Anti-War Feingold now 12 points behind Tommy Thompson and falling fast

by Eric Dondero

This is music to the ears of all of us who supported the War in Iraq, even during the dark days of 2005/06/07 before the Surge. Throughout that rough period, there was one US Senator more than any other, who went out of his way to bash George W. Bush, and the War on the whole. That Senator was Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.

A small sampling of Feingold's rabid foaming at the mouth Bush Derangement Syndrome (from FeingoldSenate.gov):

December 18, 2007 - Senator Feingold continues his effort to require the President to end his disastrous Iraq policy and bring our troops out of Iraq. Feingold will be joined by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in offering an amendment to the omnibus spending bill based on their legislation requiring the redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq, with a few narrow exceptions, after which funding for military operations in Iraq would end.

October 24, 2007 - Senator Feingold speaks from the Senate floor on the fifth anniversary of the Authorization of the Use Military Force in Iraq. "I will not stand idly by while this mistaken war continues. I will continue working to end this war and bring our troops home, and I will continue looking in the days and weeks ahead for opportunities to debate and vote on ending the war – this year, and, if necessary, next as well."

Call it poetic justice. Perhaps Karma? But Feingold had this coming.

A brand new poll released Wisconsin's St. Norbert College shows Feingold getting creamed by potential Republican candidate and former Bush administration cabinet member Tommy Thompson.

The headline over at Hedgehog says it all - WI: Thompson Would Crush Feingold.

Here are the hard numbers:

US SENATE – WISCONSIN (St.Norbert)
Tommy Thompson (R) 45%
Russ Feingold (D-inc) 33%

Here's the link to the local Fox News 6 story if you'd like to check the internals.

Everyone, even within the Right-o-sphere are focused on new numbers on Harry Reid. He's toast. All three potential GOPers are way ahead, with frontrunner Sue Lowden beating him 54% to 39%. This is understandable. Reid is of course, Senate Majority leader. However, everyone already expects Reid to lose. Wisconsin is a sleeper.

And it's also the final seat that could deliver we Republicans the 51-seat majority. Along with the California - Boxer seat, Illinois Kirk vs. Giannoulias or New York's Gillibrand. Any one of these 4 "safe Dem seats" goes GOP and we get our majority. Right now, it's looking like Wisconsin's the ticket!

And it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Sunlight May Help Protect Men From Kidney Cancer

(HealthDay News) -- Men with jobs that expose them to high levels of sunlight are less likely to develop kidney cancer than those with little or no sunlight exposure at work, says a new study.

Previous research suggests that vitamin D, which is obtained from sun exposure and certain foods and supplements, may help prevent some cancers. Vitamin D is metabolized and most active within the kidneys.

This new study included 1,097 male and female kidney cancer patients and 1,476 healthy people in Europe who were interviewed about their work history and other demographic information.

Men with the highest levels of work-related exposure to sunlight were 24 percent to 38 percent less likely to have kidney cancer than other men. This association between job-related sunlight exposure and kidney cancer risk was not seen in women.

The study is published online March 8 in the journal Cancer. Read more...



Joint Mender for Joint Care

FROM THE DARK REPORT and DARK DAILY: Negotiating Pathology Part A Reimbursement with Hospitals: Why the Performance-Based Approach Opens the Door to Increased Value

Win-win breakthrough aligns hospitals and pathologists in Pathology Part A Agreements that deliver added value!

Buy Now!

YOUR PRESENTERS:

Robert H. Tessier, Senior Reimbursement Consultant, HBP Financial Services Group, Ltd.

Saraswathi Nair, M.D., Chair, Pathology Department, Norwalk Hospital

Justin M. Clark (Moderator), Director of Operations, THE DARK REPORT, Spicewood, TX


Wednesday April 21, 2010 at 1:00pm EST.

Few pathology groups are happy with their current pathology Part A Professional Service agreements. That's because, too often over the past decade, hospitals and health systems have continually trimmed reimbursements to their pathologists for essential Part A services. As a consequence, in many hospitals, Part A Professional Service contracts fail to reimburse pathologists for even the basic cost of these services. Now there's a better way to negotiate your pathology group's Part A Professional Service contract with your hospital/health system administrators. The innovators using this approach are earning higher reimbursements and report that both pathologists and hospitals are more satisfied with the increased value that results for both parties.

Learn more about this important new strategy when you attend a special DARK REPORT and DARKDAILY.COM audio conference "Negotiating Pathology Part A Reimbursement with Hospitals: Why the Performance-Based Approach Opens the Door to Increased Value" on Wednesday, April 21, 2010.

To understand how performance-based Part A contracting works, listen as Saraswathi Nair, M.D., Chair of the Pathology Department at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, provides details of the successful program she started at Norwalk Hospital. Find out how she negotiated increased Part A support from her hospital using a well-documented list of accomplishments by her pathology team. And get the tips and strategies you need to implement a performance-based pathology Part A Professional Service arrangement with your hospital or health system. Along with Dr. Nair, you'll hear from Robert Tessier who helped develop this strategy. As the Senior Reimbursement Consultant at HBP Financial Services Group, he played a key role in helping pathologists gather compelling data about their time spent on Part A professional duties and the value that accrues to the hospital as a result of their efforts.

He was instrumental in providing documentation of the financial benefits that proved persuasive to hospital administrators. During this audio conference, Tessier will present details of the steps involved in setting up a performance-based system to help your hospital's administrators better evaluate the job your pathology team is doing. This is the opposite of the "lay-low" strategy because it calls for pathologists to step up and provide a detailed list of benefits to the hospital every day.

Too often, pathology Part A Professional Service agreements with hospitals and health systems turn out poorly for the pathologists. Over the past decade, hospital accountants have regular reduced-and in some cases, even eliminated-payments to pathologists for Part A services. A performance-based pathology Part A Professional Service contract is your pathology group's most effective way to stop this trend, and reverse it in a way that generates a win-win for both the hospital and the pathologists. The performance-based pathology Part A Professional Service contract now being used is a powerful tool that changes the fundamental relationship between pathologists and the hospital. Now, instead of basing Part A reimbursements on the amount of time you spend on the job, you can base it on how well you do that job! It's a strategy and tool set that will revolutionize the way you negotiate your Part A reimbursement.

Whether you're a hospital-based pathology chief, a pathology practice administrator or consultant, a hospital administrator, or anyone who negotiates Part A reimbursements, you'll want to make time in your busy schedule to participate in this invaluable 90-minute session.

Find out how to set goals for your department, and how meeting those goals will help you get the support you deserve. Be proactive: When you show hospital administrators that your department is serious about solving problems and saving money, it creates the opportunity to negotiate a Part A Professional Service agreement that appropriately reimburses pathologists while giving hospitals objectively measured documentation of the pathologists' value.

Register for this audio conference to hear this never-before-shared information. Master the insights about this exciting new strategy for getting the most out of your Part A Professional Service agreement. For pathologists, it's the best way to get the recognition-and the compensation-you deserve. And for hospital administrators, it's a chance to develop a partnership with your pathologists that will provide your hospital with results you can measure-not just hours spent in the lab.

Buy Now!

THE DARK REPORT AUDIO CONFERENCE AT A GLANCE

DATE: Wednesday, April 21, 2010

TIME: 1 p.m. EDT; 12 p.m. CDT; 11 a.m. MDT; 10 a.m. PDT PLACE: Your telephone or speakerphone

COST: $195 per dial-in site (unlimited attendance per site) through 4/9/10; $245 thereafter

TO REGISTER: Click here or call 1-800-560-6363 toll-free

For one low price—just $195 (through 4/9/10; $245 thereafter)—you and your entire team can take part in this fast-paced, insightful audio conference. Best of all, you’ll be able to connect personally with either of the panelists when we open up the phone lines for live Q&A.

Here's just some of what you’ll learn during this in-depth 90-minute conference:

  • How to educate your administration about the Part A value that pathologists provide.
  • The most effective ways to educate your administration about the Part A value that pathologists provide.
  • How to work with your hospital's finance team to quantify lab department improvements and results.
  • Simple steps to design a time-study format customized for your hospital.
  • How to determine whether a laboratory department fund can be used to seed innovative programs.
  • Identifying the importance of "dividend" re-investment by the pathologists.
  • How to use the partnership model with academic institutions, community hospitals and commercial laboratories to increase value and pathology Part A reimbursement.
  • Using websites, collateral and sales to provide leadership and financial support for marketing.

…and much more!

How to Register:

1. Online

2. Call toll free: 800-560-6363.

Your audio conference registration includes:

*A site license to attend the conference (invite as many people as you can fit around your speakerphone at no extra charge)

*Downloadable PowerPoint presentations from our speakers

*A full transcript emailed to you soon after the conference

*The opportunity to connect directly with our speaker during the audience Q&A session

Register Now! Or for more information, call us toll-free at 800-560-6363.

Distinguished Faculty:

Robert Tessier is a Senior Consultant at HBP Services, a management firm with a focus on hospital-based pathologists. He has more than 30 years of experience with hospital negotiations, first with radiologists and since 1982, with pathologists. His consultations have focused on the need for a detailed evaluation of Part A support in an environment of controlling hospital costs. HBP's clients include pathology groups, hospitals and medical schools. Mr. Tessier has recently been helping pathologists and their hospitals address the value provided by those willing to present their results in addition to time spent. He has also been asked to help develop a performance-based model that makes it easier to justify the hundreds of thousands of dollars that an individual hospital pays for Part A services. Mr. Tessier also has experience with third-party negotiations, hospital joint ventures for histology and cytology, billing system audits and a wide range of areas that help pathology practices achieve effective management.

Saraswathi Nair, M.D. is Chair of the Pathology Department at Norwalk Hospital.

Buy Now!

ACCENT® Continuing Education Credit The American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC) designates this program for a maximum of 1.5 ACCENT® credit hours towards the AACC Clinical Chemist’s Recognition Award. AACC is an approved provider of continuing education for clinical laboratory scientists in the states of California, Florida, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island, and West Virginia.

Few pathology groups are happy with their current pathology Part A Professional Service agreements. That's because, too often over the past decade, hospitals and health systems have continually trimmed reimbursements to their pathologists for essential Part A services. As a consequence, in many hospitals, Part A Professional Service contracts fail to reimburse pathologists for even the basic cost of these services. Now there's a better way to negotiate your pathology group's Part A Professional Service contract with your hospital/health system administrators. The innovators using this approach are earning higher reimbursements and report that both pathologists and hospitals are more satisfied with the increased value that results for both parties. Learn more about this important new strategy when you attend a special DARK REPORT and DARKDAILY.COM audio conference "Negotiating Pathology Part A Reimbursement with Hospitals: Why the Performance-Based Approach Opens the Door to Increased Value" on Wednesday, April 21, 2010. To understand how performance-based Part A contracting works, listen as Saraswathi Nair, M.D., Chair of the Pathology Department at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, provides details of the successful program she started at Norwalk Hospital. Find out how she negotiated increased Part A support from her hospital using a well-documented list of accomplishments by her pathology team. And get the tips and strategies you need to implement a performance-based pathology Part A Professional Service arrangement with your hospital or health system. Along with Dr. Nair, you'll hear from Robert Tessier who helped develop this strategy. As the Senior Reimbursement Consultant at HBP Financial Services Group, he played a key role in helping pathologists gather compelling data about their time spent on Part A professional duties and the value that accrues to the hospital as a result of their efforts. He was instrumental in providing documentation of the financial benefits that proved persuasive to hospital administrators.

U-M Medical School awarded $63M grant – Detroit Free Press


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Obama names Indian American to White House bioethics panel – Economic Times


India Talkies

Lung Cancer Detection – KEYC


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In Health Watch:Lung cancer kills more than 100000 people in this country every year.But scientists are on the verge of a new test that can find the disease ...
Create a procedure to detect the risk of cancer in smokersNews Politics
Genetic changes predict lung cancerMinneapolis Star Tribune
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Stealth Space Summit Flyby Details Emerge

Obama To Arrive At KSC At 1:45 P.M. April 15, Florida Today

"President Barack Obama is scheduled to arrive at Kennedy Space Center at 1:45 p.m. on Thursday, April 15. He'll make live remarks at 3 p.m. and depart at 3:45 p.m., the White House said."

Keith's note: I will bet that the President spends more time engaged in a political fundraiser later that day in southern Florida than he does focusing on America's space program. Meanwhile, the tug of war continues between OSTP and NASA as to who says what and when while the President is physically present at KSC. The spirit of compromise is now fading. Word has it that the President will simply try and sell his policy and budget - as originally presented. Again, this will all change again before the Space Summit/Conference/Flyby starts. Stay tuned.

A Constitutional Convention Can Do…What?

The tiny percentage of us who’ve actually read any constitution, federal or state, know very well that all levels of our government operate in violation of these proven, fundamental, once-cherished and now-ignored laws.

So it’s no surprise that most of us sense a problem with the state of our union. It’s similarly predictable that most of us misdiagnose the problem and then promote bad ideas as a cure.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Sherry Woodard“It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn.” – B. C. Forbes

April brings the advent of spring, the planting and tending of gardens, and refreshing rains that help nature spring forth. Here at The Planet, April is no different – the sales and marketing teams will be busy planting seeds to help fuel our growth with a busy trade show schedule.

Here’s a look at all the activities planned this month:

PubCon South — April 13-15 — Dallas, TX
ConferencesWe’ll kick off in Dallas at PubCon South. Here, we’ll showcase our hosting and cloud solutions, and learn about the latest trends in social media marketing. The conference is being held just up the street from our Dallas office, so this is almost a “home game” for us. If you’re in Dallas, stop by and see us!
Cloud Expo East — April 19-21 — New York, NY
ConferencesAt the Cloud Expo, we have two speaking spots: Duke Skarda will deliver a general address to the delegates on how to evaluate cloud solutions and determine what makes sense for their respective companies. Carl Meadows will also conduct a technical workshop on choosing the right cloud platform for your business. You can find us in the expo hall at booth 118.
ad:tech — April 20-22 — San Francisco, CA
ConferencesAt ad:tech, we’re sponsoring a panel discussion on the challenges faced by today’s ad agencies while navigating media-rich campaigns that integrate video, social networks and new media. We’ll also show off our unique corporate style in booth 6240. In addition to our hosting capabilities, we’ll showcase The Planet Partner Plus program, our channel program for referral partners, resellers and affiliates.
Interop — April 25-30 — Las Vegas, NV
ConferencesAfter a quick two-day breather, we’ll hit the road again to the Entertainment Capital of the World. Thank goodness you never know what time it is in Vegas … because I know we’ll still be jet-lagged. You can find the weary travelers from The Planet in the Interop expo hall at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. During the show, we’ll feature our server challenge, back by popular demand from SXSW. Stop by to see us in booth 1851.

Don’t worry … we’ll still be out and about in May. I’ll save the details about those shows for a rainy day at the end of April.

We’re excited about all things spring, including meeting new customers, seeing old friends and making new ones. There’s a lot planned and much coming your way, so be sure to keep in touch. We’ll see you on the road!

-Sherry

P.S. If you plan to be at any these events, let us know! Hit us up in the comments section below, via Twitter or on our facebook page.

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