In praise of patience

[pecunium]

rivka has made me glad I did not jump on the bandwagon of outrage over the use of children as unwitting test subjects for HIV drugs in New York City.

She goes into detail on the subject at Respectful of Otters.

I'd like to say this tripped my worry meter enough that I'd done more than set it aside, pending corroboration, before I let outrage take over, but I didn't. I merely filed it as unlikely.

Maia and I are heading to L.A. this afternoon, because I have drill this weekend, and it's mandatory fun (to be honest, I'd rather have some real work to do this weekend, but it's needful. We have to have a couple of briefings every year, and this letes family get together. With guys deployed, it lets their families know we've not forgotten them, but feh. Even with people I really like, mandatory fun is tedious).

I may make the time to try and marshall some thoughts a fight in another place has set to bubbling, but I may not.

No food porn, no descriptives, and no real ranting at the moment. See you all later.


Oh, andmatociquala thanks for all the exposure. If I were having a subscription drive, you'd be the prize winner, by miles.

Comments

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I'd like to say this tripped my worry meter enough that I'd done more than set it aside, pending corroboration, before I let outrage take over, but I didn't. I merely filed it as unlikely.

I bet that some of the same false notes struck you too. Particularly, "if this were really happening, why wouldn't the story get picked up by the mainstream press?"

Thanks for helping spread the word, Terry.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Story WAS picked up by the mainstream press, here in NYC.

And having ACS in my life RIGHT NOW, I know that they can be heavy-handed jerks who lie to you, make things up, and will do anything they can to push their own agenda.

So besides taking the first with a grain of salt, I will take the Respectful of Otters bit with a grain of salt as well. I don't trust ACS, not one bit. It is an agency that abuses its power, gives parents no way to fight back, and isn't held accountable because of 'privacy concerns'.

[balmofgilead.livejournal.com]

Who picked it up besides the NY Post?

IMO, even if the ACS can be heavy-handed dishonest jerks, the reporting on the situation hasn't given the whole picture. The ACS may push their agenda on people, but if in this case "their agenda" was to give reasonably safe AIDS meds to HIV+ kids, that's not a scandal. If the meds in question were indeed in the children's best interest, well, that's kind of the ACS's job.

The issue of parents'/guardians' consent still remains. I don't know a lot about the ACS or the foster care system. However, wouldn't the foster care system be the children's guardian when they're in their care?

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Didn't the News do something on it as well? I know I read it and I know I avoid the Post like the plague, and can't get Newsday.

I don't know at which point ACS is the guardian, it is not in my case (and I hope it remains that way) it may vary from case to case. I just don't trust ACS to keep children's best interests in mind, seriously. I know that's not much to go on, but besides my case, and from the other cases I personally know of, they'd rather be 'right' than do the right thing. Next time I go to the big library I'll see if I can search the daily news archives from there.

[balmofgilead.livejournal.com]

Hey, I have enough (healthy) skepticism towards authority that I wouldn't quibble with what you say about ACS. If the ACS generally acts inappropriately, that's a problem that needs to be fixed, but I think it makes sense to keep that separate from this particular scandal. If the ACS is "bad" that doesn't make the AIDS drug trial bad, and if the drug trial was "good," that wouldn't make the ACS "good."

I hope things turn out smoothly for you with the ACS.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I don't see anything in my post that amounts to an unqualified endorsement of ACS.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

No, it seems to me that personal facts relating to ACS make kibbles make her suspicious enough of them to be willing to believe they would be the strongarm for a Tuskegee sort of experiment.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Okay, I can see that.

Hopefully it helps in this case to know that the conspiracy would also have to involve the FDA, the federal Office of Research Protections, and several indepedent-of-each-other divisions of Columbia University.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Didn't say THAT, but I am just saying that I don't trust ACS, and from what I know of them, such a story wouldn't suprise me. (Which is really sad because of what their purpose is supposed to be -- protecting children.)

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

No, the mainstream can be slow, and sometimes deliberate.

That it was the BBC was a point in its favor, but the issues of protocols was niggling at my mind.

TK

[ketzl.livejournal.com]

Thanks to you and especially rivka for the informative post. I too had caught the link to the BBC article and it's good to know the whole story.

Smile

[lilithharp17.livejournal.com]

:)

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

*g* Food porn and politics. An irresistible combination.

[cluefairy-j.livejournal.com]

I've worked in the pharma/biotech industry for over seven years now and there's one thing that I wish would happen: more education for the lay people on how clinical trials are regulated and conducted. I think people, despite some of the negative news lately, would see that the overwhelming majority of drugs, trials, etc. *are* ethically run and sold. But, I do admit, I have sold my soul to pharma/biotech...;-)

[ad-kay.livejournal.com]

Between you and automatedalice_, the food porn is fixing to kill me! Question about roasting coffee beans in an iron skillet: does the chaff want to blow every which where, or does it mainly stay in the skillet?

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Mostly it stays in the pan. You will lose some if you shake the pan, but with stirring it won't drift so much.

TK

[ad-kay.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I also found a ton of info sbout coffee roasting at http://www.sweetmarias.com (which you probably already know about).

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

I didn't, and some of the stuff they have, esp. as regards skillet roasting, is poor.

Do not use a thin skillet, it makes for hot spots, and really uneven roasting. I use an open pan, so I can see it. It takes a little longer (20-40 minutes) and the light roasts are harder to obtain (because it is contact heating), but eveness is not that tricky.


One can use a hot air popper. It won't let you control the roast, because when the beans expand to the point they are light enough, they fly out, and that's all she wrote.

TK

[ad-kay.livejournal.com]

I have a large heavy iron skillet--need to re-season it, but I think it should do the trick.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

If it isn't all over rust, then you can use it before you season.

The little skillet I got two weeks ago, was rinsed and put straight to use. The only aviso I have on the subject is to be certain you rise, and wipe it, between uses, so that the oils sweated out of the beans don't go rancid.


TK