Free Republic

Now that both the House and Senate have passed health care reform bills, all Democrats have to do is work out a compromise between the two versions. And it appears they’re not about to let the Republicans gum up the works again. According to a pair of senior Capitol Hill staffers, one from each chamber, House and Senate Democrats are “almost certain” to negotiate informally rather than convene a formal conference committee. Doing so would allow Democrats to avoid a series of procedural steps--not least among them, a series of special motions in the Senate, each requiring a vote with...

Wednesday, July 15, 2009 Just wanted to let you both (my oldest brother and I) know that (Sr.) Libby (Dahlstrom) is having heart surgery today. Went to get an angiogram yesterday and too much blockage to do a stint or the balloon thing, so surgery was recommended – probably 3 or 4 by- passes – she has blockage of 75% in one large artery and 95% in the other large artery and the others are smaller. (She has been having some symptoms since January….) Would call you, but I have to get back over to the hospital right now. Love,...

The Triple and Quadruple Bypass Burgers are advertised at Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Arizona June 17, 2009. The restaurant is known for their hospital theme and enormous burgers.

Medical experts confirm that a procedure known as gastric bypass surgery can lead to dramatic improvements to weight and overall health. . . . . In the case of government obesity, the bypass would entail the detachment of the fiscal alimentary tract from the endless entrails of superfluous federal agencies, where trillions of taxpayer funds are currently absorbed and excreted in wasteful government programs. Instead, a new incision would be made just below the gullet of the IRS and revenue would be routed exclusively to essential functions -- those that provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and...

NEW DELHI: In what is claimed to be the first of its kind procedure in the country, doctors at Indraprastha Apollo hospital have used a minimally invasive technique to perform a multiple graft heart bypass surgery on a 53-year-old woman without cutting through a single bone. The new procedure, doctors claim, is less painful than conventional bypass surgery and leads to much faster healing. "This is the first time in India multiple grafts have been put, especially at the back of the heart, through minimally invasive coronary surgery. In conventional bypass, the sternum is cut open and that takes at...

U.S. Highway 281 Presentation >> Priority 1: Spend $75 million to build five overpasses in Falfurrias.>> Priority 2: A $13 million Ben Bolt overpass at Farm-to-Market Road 2508 is proposed to create a safer school zone and eliminate another traffic barrier.>> Priority 3: Dedicate anywhere from $40 million to $104 million to build tolled relief route around Premont or upgrade the existing route with tolled freeway lanes.>> Priority 4: A $50 million project in George West to build connectors to U.S. Highway 59 and Interstate 37.McALLEN -- Whether the route is eventually called Interstate 69 or the Trans-Texas Corridor, four...

Carl Yastrzemski has had successful triple bypass surgery Tony Massarotti By Tony Massarotti Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - Longtime Red Sox [team stats] great Carl Yastrzemski has undergone successful triple bypass surgery and is now in recovery at Mass General Hospital, Yaz spokesman Dick Gordon confirmed a short time ago. According to Gordon, Yastrzemski actually was brought to Mass General yesterday after complaining of tightness and pains in his chest. The Hall of Fame left fielder underwent an array of tests before it was determined that he needed surgery, which took place early tonight at the hospital. The procedure took...

A retreat from the Texas Department of Transportation's plan to build a new multi-lane toll road through East Texas is a clear victory for Angelina County and Diboll, local officials said last week. "I'm glad they went back to the original plan," Diboll Mayor Bill Brown said. Instead of a new Trans-Texas Corridor toll road paralleling U.S. 59, Tx- DOT now plans to widen 59 with a new bypass around Diboll and Lufkin. The planned 59 bypass, needed to avoid the signalized intersections in Diboll and Lufkin, provides in the original plan four exits for Diboll. That will be good...

Members of the Collin County Commissioners Court are entering unknown waters in the area of transportation. They need to make sure they don't get in over their heads. At issue is their recent vote to explore formation of the county's own tollway agency, which could compete with the North Texas Tollway Authority for future road projects. Exploration, fine. Given the scarcity of road-building dollars, exploring alternative ways of paying for highways and seeking fair treatment for Collin County makes sense. As County Judge Keith Self puts it, "We need to educate ourselves." As Commissioner Joe Jaynes puts it, "We owe...

A deal could be in the works that might entice Kansas City Southern railroad to bypass Victoria. “I hate to put odds on it happening,” Victoria Mayor Will Armstrong said. “We’d like to work with them, but we want some more information.” Kansas City Southern, which is rebuilding the out-of-service line between Victoria and Rosenberg, asked the city for help in acquiring a construction yard, Armstrong said. The city responded by saying it would consider doing that in exchange for the railroad bypass south of Victoria so trains would not have to go through the heart of the city. Armstrong...

[World News]: London, Oct 30: He might have recovered from his recent quadruple heart bypass surgery, but former President Bill Clinton's illness is more than what meets the eye. According to the National Enquirer, he may have suffered permanent brain damage due to the surgery. He has also been battling a deadly blood infection. Insiders say that he is weak and suffering memory lapses. Doctors have given him blood thinners to prevent blood clots, antibiotics to treat his deadly infection and tranquilizers to calm his anxiety, say friends. "Recovering from heart surgery has been a far more painful and miserable...

If Gov. Mitch Daniels’ plan to build a tollway on the far outskirts of Indianapolis wins legislative approval, land-use experts said the highway would likely be challenged by landowners unwilling to have their land swallowed up for the project. The bypass, dubbed the Indiana Commerce Connector, would cut about 75 miles through five counties east and south of Indianapolis, altering the landscapes of those largely rural areas. Eminent domain — the government’s seizure of private land — almost certainly would have to be used to acquire land for the tollway, which would be built and operated by a private company....

The 322-pound, redmeat-loving Dorchester dad who stuffed his face with pizza, steak tips, prime rib and fast food in a final fling before stomach-shrinking surgery, found out yesterday that the gravy train has reached the end of the line. His surgeon won’t operate until he drops 40 pounds and gains some new perspective. “It couldn’t have went any worse,” said Chris “Tiger” Stockbridge, 34, who claims he’s a changed man, finally ready to follow doctor’s orders and submit to a life of oatmeal, salad and fish, if that’s what it takes. “I felt a little bit ashamed of myself,” he...

Experimental treatment makes 70-year-old a poster boy for science Mike Swendseid seemingly had run out of options in battling heart disease. The Grand Forks man had angioplasty. He underwent quadruple-bypass heart surgery. Inside him were four wires, two stents, a pacemaker and a defibrillator. "After the last stent, doctors told me there was nothing more they could do for Mike," said his wife, Marion. But, as science progressed, there was something. In January, the 70-year-old Swendseid became a recipient of experimental stem cell treatment at the Minneapolis Heart Institute, which is part of Abbott Northwestern Hospital. The treatment uses Swendseid's...

AUSTIN -- Companies that are willing to pay for the right to build toll roads in Texas should have wide latitude to decide where they're built, state officials told Metroplex leaders Thursday. New evidence of the state's move to privatize roads was on display Thursday, when members of the Texas Transportation Commission said they will not pressure the private consortium Cintra Zachry to build the Trans-Texas Corridor closer to Dallas-Fort Worth. About 100 North Texas elected officials and business leaders had traveled to Austin to ask the commission to force Cintra Zachry to build the highway as a loop around...

Have you ever spent 15 or 20 minutes or more on the telephone trying to speak to a real live human while getting the runaround from the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system? If so, this blogsite and database is for you. It has ways to bypass the IVR and speak to a human for 356 companies and goverment organizations as of today. Everyone from American Express to Bank of America to Verizon is on the list. I give it two thumbs and a salute!

In the next few decades, the ever-growing Dallas-Fort Worth area could experience striking changes in the way that people and goods move. North Central Texas' population has been ballooning faster than the transportation infrastructure -- a situation akin to that of a growing middle-schooler whose old jeans don't quite fit anymore. With the Metroplex expected to add about 4 million people by 2030, it's hard to imagine the hellish traffic jams that we'll face in the future unless we take giant steps to reverse course. New transportation projects and strategies are being hashed out now that might someday save us...

What is enhanced external counterpulsation? Enhanced External Counterpulsation (EECP) is a treatment for angina (also called angina pectoris), or chest pain. Angina occurs when the muscle cells of the heart do not get enough blood to properly maintain their pumping function. The lack of blood supply is most likely to cause pain during physical activity, when the heart pumps fastest and needs the most oxygen. In most people, angina is caused by coronary artery disease. Results of clinical trials show that EECP is a safe and effective choice for people who are considered at high risk for bypass surgery and...

ANDERSON, Ind. - A man who took up bicycling after bypass surgery gave him a second chance at life died of a heart attack the day after completing a 2,400-mile, cross-country trip. Broc Bebout, a 57-year-old retired engineer, died Thursday on the van drive back to his home in Anderson, about 25 miles northeast of Indianapolis, one day after completing the bicycle ride from Carlsbad, Calif., to Brunswick, Ga. His wife, Patricia Brinkman, said bicycling became Bebout's ticket to nearly 20 years of good health after quadruple-bypass surgery at age 39. He also learned to eat right and take care...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The terrorist believed to have flown a hijacked airliner into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, obtained a California driver's license without providing the required Social Security number for identification, officials are acknowledging for the first time. Nawaf Alhazmi then used that license when he registered for the flight training that enabled him to pilot the doomed airliner. Alhazmi used a loophole, since closed, in California law that allowed hundreds of thousands of foreign drivers without Social Security numbers to use a generic number in its place. Even some foreign citizens with Social Security numbers skirted the...