Advertisements and My Thoughts

I like the FreeCreditReport.com advertisements. The catchy little jingles are the first thing that caught my attention. I have seen at least four or five different commercials on the television and each jingle has a different story, but the message is always the same, "Get your free credit report and stay out of trouble." The main character of the commercial also gets my attention with his cute baby face and his little backup band is always in the picture. The public relations person that developed this relationship is on the right track. The jingles and characters just seem to go together and are easy to relate to. On the the other hand, my husband and two sons don't like the commercials. They think they are dumb! But, my sons do know all the jingles!

I just saw a commercial advertising VESIcare. I know these advertisements are on television and in magazines. Now that is creative advertising. Creating little people out of piping is so appropriate for this product. Overactive bladder issues and little plumbing people is something not everyone can relate to, but the message is clear. I think this is very effective advertising and the creative use of piping is unique.

Fastfood places are trying to sell us on the fact that they are making their food healthier. The Arby's RoastBurger is a new, non-greasy thinly-sliced oven roasted burger that is never fried. It's got lettuce and tomatoes which are good for you. Sure roast beef is better for you, but there's still bacon, cheese, sauces and the bun. Of course, when I went to their Web site I couldn't find the calorie count for these never fried, non-greasy burgers. They sure do look good and the commercial is very appealing.

The Jenny Craig commercials are easy to relate to. "If I can do it, you can too" is always a challenge for people. Valerie Bertinelli is a great spokesperson for the program. Her before and after pictures are a great testimony. But, did she lose the weight by just eating the Jenny Craig food or did she exercise alot? Is she going to live on the Jenny Craig diet for the rest of her life? If not, what will happen to her weight when she goes on her own? We can all lose the weight on these programs, but unless we learn how to eat differently and watch what we eat, weight will always be an issue. People need to realize that Jenny Craig can help them lose the weight, but unless they plan to live on the diet the rest of their lives, they need to make some changes.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of ND makes bad decision

The inforum.com recently published a story entitled "Blue Cross Blue Shield ND sales leaders rewarded with trip to Grand Cayman Islands resort." What was Blue Cross Blue Shield thinking?

It seems that the top sales staff, consisting of 35 employees and a guest, were awarded a trip to the Grand Cayman Islands. This little reward trip included an allowance for each employee and a guest of up to $6500, including $2000 for airfare, $1500 in cash, and $300 for hotel. I sure wish I could earn a trip like this and get spending money on top of it all!! A side note, the CEO also went on this trip. The total budget was up to $227,500. This figures out to about 90 cents for each policyholder.

Now this is all fine and dandy in previous economic times, but not a wise decision at the present. In fact, Blue Cross Blue Shield wants to increase premiums up to 18.3 percent for individuals who are not covered in a group, 11.4 percent for group coverage and 20 percent for college students.

Apparently Blue Cross Blue Shield had a $9 million loss last year just from operations. When investments are added into the loss, the total loss is $28 million.

After this bit of news was released, the back lashing started. Next I read in an article "Blue to ditch incentive trip" that the CEO will pay his own expenses. Oh, by the way, he was planning to pay for his expenses all along! While talking on a radio talk show he made the comment that he had determined before the show that he would cover his own expenses. I have my own opinion on that comment, but will keep it to myself.

The ND Insurance Commissioner, Adam Hamm, is now considering an audit of Blue Cross Blue Shield. He wants to delve into the executive compensation and the reward trip and get a complete picture of how these things are determined. Hamm states that "there doesn't seem to be any sacrifice on their side, the company side. That is where the anger and confusion comes in."

But, in an article by Mike McFeely of the in-forum.com called "Bad PR at heart of Blue's problems", Mr. Hamm has feuded with Blue Cross Blue Shield for years. McFeely indicates that the biggest losers in all this mess are the sales people. I guess I have to agree with that.

Didn't anybody think of what happened to the big automakers? Their bad decision of flying in a private jet to ask for money made big headlines, as well as the bad decisions by the big banks. Blue Cross Blue Shield spending big money on uxorious reward trips while asking for rate increases is not so very different!

I'm not sure who makes the decisions of taking these trips, but there's got to be someone in the offices with some common sense, doesn't there? I hope other companies are paying attention to this PR mess and take heed. You just don't spend money on non-essentials in the current economy and expect to get away with it. You wouldn't run your personal household that way, don't run a company like it.

Do we have a right to choose how and when we die?

The In-forum.com published an article from the Associated Press called "Right-to-die debate revived by charges against 4 members of alleged assisted suicide network." This article brings up an interesting debate. The debate is regarding the right to die.

Apparently there is a case against an alleged assisted suicide ring. This ring is known as the Final Exit Network. Two members of this network have been charged with aiding the suicide of a 58-year-old man from Georgia who was suffering from throat and mouth cancer. This network may have also been involved in up to 200 deaths across the country.

There are some states that have legalized doctor-assisted suicide, but Georgia is not one of them. In Georgia people can be sentenced for up to five years in prison for being involved in assisting with suicides.

The debate begins with the belief of some that people should be allowed to "die gracefully." But, another group called Not Dead Yet disagrees. They feel assisted suicides are murder and these people get off on being there for death. The Final Exit Network claims they don't actively aid suicides, but rather support and guide those who have decided to end their lives on their own.

When I went to the Web and looked up assisted suicide, I found a link to the American Psychological Association. This association provides arguments for supporting and opposing assisted suicides. Both arguments are very strong and I can understand where each side is coming from.

I'm just not sure who should decide or if there should be laws governing assisted suicide. Don't we all have the right to decide when or if we want to die? If someone was very sick with no hope of recovery and they were going to die a low and painful death, shouldn't they have the freedom to make a choice? But, what if some medical miracle happened all of the sudden and they missed out on that opportunity.

On the other hand, what if assisted suicides became too easy and if someone committed murder, they could say it was assisted suicide. Some type of laws need to be in place governing assisted suicide for this purpose. We could have a lot of murderers running around if they got off with saying it was assisted suicide!

A Little Good News

It seems like every time I see the news it is always something negative about the economy, somebody hurting someone else, or something negative about the war.

I just read this refreshing article on MSNBC.com. The article is entitled "At 73, he's the oldest player shooting college hoops."

Back in 1956, Ken Mink was attending a religious college, which had a low tolerance for misbehavior. Someone sprayed shaving cream all over the coach's office. Mink was called into the college president's office and was blamed for the incident. He was expelled from the college. To this day he still maintains his innocence. The college president acted as judge, jury, and prosecutor.

Mink then joined the Air Force, got married, and raised a family. He's semiretired now and pursuing an active lifestyle.

Even through all of life's experiences, he still felt cheated out of a year of basketball. That one incident has frustrated him all of his life.

Fortunately, Mink found a junior college coach willing to give him a chance. Mink worked out hard to get in shape. His first practices were tough, but he kept getting better through the season. His teammates were skeptical, but have embraced him.

Mink doesn't get much play time, but his dream is coming true and the fans are loving it. In fact, he's now writing a book about his experience.

Way to go, Ken!

Another inspiring story I found was "Graduating high school at 90: 'Just plain wonderful.'"

John Locher had to drop out of school in the 10th grade back in the early 30s. His father contracted tuberculosis. John, being the eldest child, felt he had to take on the responsibility of supporting the family. They were starving. John worked many jobs and in 1936 got a job with GM.

The lack of a high school diploma always bothered John and his children knew it. Last year, two of his daughters contacted his old high school. They wanted to see if he could be declared a graduate. They wanted to do something special for his 90th birthday. School administrators decided he had enough "life credits" and mailed a diploma to John at Christmas.

When John opened up the diploma he almost fainted. He was overwhelmed and very appreciative. When he went through the commencement line, he received a standing ovation.

These two wonderful men are a testimony to the fact that you are never to old to fulfill your dreams. They set an example for all of us to hold on to our dreams, you never know when they may come true. I wish we could see inspiring stories like this everyday in the news!

People who are diagnosed with cancer often times have to undergo chemotherapy, which includes taking drugs with painful side effects. According to an article on Ivanhoe.com called "Medicine's Next Big Thing: Nanomedicine", scientists are taking a more powerful approach in dealing with cancer. Nanomedicine is an offspring of nanotechnology.

One woman interviewed for the article found out she had breast cancer. She had a double mastectomy and chemotherapy. She had to endure the side effects of nausea, weight gain, and exhaustion. The bad part of chemotherapy, besides the side effects, is that in the process of killing cancer cells, healthy cells are also killed.

Dr. Ferrari, director of the Center for NanoMedicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center, is using part of research of nanotechnology to attack cancer differently. There is a new drug delivery system of nanocarriers 100 times smaller than a strand of hair that are injected into the blood stream. These nanocarriers carry the drug directly to the cancer and the goal is to not damage anything else in the process.

There are some doctors in Germany even using nanotechnology. They are treating tumors and prostate cancer. Tiny particles are injected into the tumor and its cells and a magnetic field heats and destroys the cancer.

This article also had a research summary link with a little more detail. It describes various stages of the drug delivery system talked about earlier in this blog.

Nanomedicine isn't stopping with cancer. They hope to treat heart disease and many other diseases. I'm sure they will be successful in this endeavor.

It never fails to amaze me with all the medical advancements we have. I was relatively familiar with nanotechnology, but the nanomedicine side is new. I think it is great that research has found a better way to treat cancer patients.

Cancer patients and their families are so greatly affected by this disease. With these medical breakthroughs, it has to make the prospect of dealing with this disease much more promising and maybe less scary and uncertain. I wonder how widely used this treatment has been used or when they will be done with the testing state. The sooner they can get it approved, the better. I applaud our researchers who are continually working to improve our medical technology.

Auto Dealers and Big Banks need Help - Who Doesn't?

I am so tired of hearing about the crisis our auto dealers and big banks are in. What about everyone else? There are many more businesses and people struggling to make ends meet and they aren't asking for handouts. Even if they did, who would give it to them?

MSNBC.com had an article, "Feds may limit pay at banks that get aid." HELLO! What is with the "may." Haven't they wasted enough money already not monitoring how the money is being spent. The Obama administration is working on new executive compensation restrictions for banks that get bailout money. Some of the restrictions may include stopping severance payments to a companies top 55 executives and also their bonus pools would be reduced about 40 percent from their 2007 level.

Did these companies forget the reason for the bailout money was to help them during this credit crunch time. Why are they even giving bonuses, etc. There is absolutely no excuse for spending bailout money like this. They need to help their customers by offering affordable incentives, lower their mortgage payments, among many other things that could be done. Are they helping the smaller businesses in any way?

After Wells Fargo got publicity for planning a "Las Vegas junket", our government should realize strict guidelines need to be in place before handing out any more bailout money. I don't care what traditions a company may have, the way our economy is, did they really think it was a good idea to plan this event again this year?

On CNNMoney.com we are told that big bank's public relations departments are busy. I'm sure they are! First of all, they have to try to justify the frivolous spending that has been happening. Now the public relations representatives have to tell us how their organization is trying to save our economy. In "Big banks have some nerve!" public relations is apparently telling us things their organization is going to do, when it is something they should have been doing all along. I found this article interesting because I'm sure, for some of us, we would have accepted the public relations story and not thought much more about it.

I think greed and lack of moral values got our economy into trouble. It's going to take time to get us out of this mess. It seems like the big companies can't make wise decisions, so the Obama administration needs to set restrictions and make companies accountable for how they spend any future bailout money.

Hunger in America and SNAP

In the article, "Tough choices for America's hungry" found at CNN.com, Walter Thomas is a 52-year-old man who has been working steadily since he was 13 years old. In July he was laid off from his job. In early January, after his savings account was being used up and he had very little food left, he swallowed his pride and applied for food stamps. Thomas says, ". . .If nothing else, I'll be able to eat." Thomas receives $175 per month for food, which equals less than $2 per meal. The food stamp program has been renamed Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture indicates that in October, more than one in 10 people - about 31 million - were using food stamps. More recent data is not available, but with our economy and job losses, this number has to be even greater now.

The article goes on to tell us about one mother with 3 children who have medical conditions. She feeds her family on $489 a month, but because of paperwork issues has been reduced to $250 a month. When she has to choose between feeding her family or paying the heat bill, she feeds her family. Another mother has 3 boys and tries to feed them on $319 a month. With the cost of food going up, they are not able to buy as much as they use to.

CNN correspondent Sean Callebs wanted to get a better idea of what it's like to live on a budget with SNAP. He started a blog detailing his experiences of living on $176 a month.

Sean had the luxury of visiting with a dietitian before starting on this program. Unfortunately, most Americans are not able to or don't seek this guidance. He also discovered that funds are suppose to supplement money spent on food each month - it's not suppose to be the sole source of funding. I know from people I have worked with in the past that too often food stamps are their only source of funding for food.

To begin his experience Sean went shopping with a mother of three small children who has been on and off food stamps. He received lots of advice on what to buy and not buy. Name brands are out of the question as well as there is never enough money for fresh fruits and vegetables or meat and fish. It will be interesting to follow Sean in his journey for the month.

It's so unfortunate in our "land of plenty" that we have so many families having to live and eat like this. It is hard to understand why we spend so much time and money taking care of other countries when we have so many in the United States living without sufficient food or funding to pay for living expenses. I know many of them need to find jobs, but without a decent education, jobs are hard to find. If they do have a job, many times the pay is so low they still have a hard time making ends meet.

I always think about the politicians, movie stars and athletes who make millions of dollars each year. If each of them were to contribute a few hundred thousand dollars to our needs in the U.S., just think of the families that could be helped.