Depression

What is more teen then imagining there is nothing more important than what is going on in that moment? There is nothing more teen than feeling that life will be over if they do not find true love by senior prom. Does this mean that they need a psyche evaluation? Do they need to be screened for depression?

Good pediatricians have at their fingertips proper help. We should never be embarrassed by it and it should be encouraged that pediatricians know how to identify and treat depression. From the reports it seems there is a power grab from an industry that is starving for patients.

Caller Lloyd told about a son of his that was diagnosed with depression. His son got a new girl friend and was fine but the medical records of his depression are available to the public and have prevented his son from getting various jobs. The employers can’t afford the insurance needed to treat employees with a history of depression.

Caller Katie feels that a really big problem and reason for teenage depression is the gap between parents and teenage children. Research shows that their brains are changing rapidly and parents need to find coping skills instead of diagnosing their children with depression.

This doesn’t change the fact that every teen has to reconcile the world and find your place in it. They have to choose which way they are going to go.

Caller Rob felt that this is another example of wanting the government to solve our problems. Parents should recognize that they can solve this problem and Rob found it kind of scary that this recommendation was made.

Spread it like butter

When Doug walked into the 7/11 this morning and asked the attendant Matt how he was doing, Matt answered without hesitation, “Better”. One word can have such a profound effect. This reflects the statements that President Obama made in how we are at the end of the beginning. Imagine if we all went out and bought a little stock that would do worlds of good.

Is there anything good happening out there?

There is a website called spread the joy where people can go to find positive

What are we all doing to pull this country out of this funk? We all have our role in funk and we all have our role to get us out of this funk.

Caller Shawna is taking time off with her family to go on vacation.

Caller Leanne told of how her children recognized the joy in the journey and she challenged her children to find it in their day

Caller Linda told that she’s danced to footloose every morning. Which Doug pointed out was shot in Utah County

Let it go

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner faced grilling at hearing over AIG’s payouts. In an effort to cover the embarrassment the legislature passed a 90% tax, instead of just taking the money back. Do we really want to use the IRS as a club to beat someone over the head that we don’t like? There is no shame in giving a bonus to someone that deserves it provided the company is doing well. When we have a failing company that took irresponsible risks, droving their company onto the reef, there is no way that they would deserve bonuses. Some of the bonuses that were over a million dollars were retention bonuses; they weren’t even with the company anymore! Then we find out in the testimony today that if we sued to get the money back and lost, in accordance to the law in Connecticut, we would have to pay double what we sued for.

Here is the rub. Many of us are still dwelling on yesterday when there are bigger fish to fry. There was a trillion dollar proposal made to stimulate the economy yesterday but it was over looked. This is how messed up we are. 160 million is a drop in the bucket compared to the problems that we currently have.

Caller Forrest told Doug that he was missing the boat. He felt that the liberals were running the show these days and once the conservatives take over again is when things will turn around. Doug expressed his frustration in people that point out a boogie man and we need to act like Americans and not democrats vs. republicans.

We are suffocating ourselves with dogmatic views towards the other partisan. We are Americans and we need to get over this division. Wouldn’t you love to be called a peacemaker? This doesn’t happen only in times of wars but peace can be brought to the bargaining table.

Is there any bipartisanship anymore? Honestly, when are we going to listen to each other?

Caller Dean thought that Doug has done a great job this morning. Doug felt that sometimes we get caught up in what we perceive. There is something wrong with the absolute idea that when someone from outside reaches over the isle and is seen as a traitor but when someone from the other side of the isle they are seen as heroes. This is not right.

Caller Joe feels that Doug is a voice of reason that he can listen to. Finds its ironic that some of the challenges that have come upon the nation is because of the media. He doesn’t know what KSL is doing when they run Sean Hannity in the afternoons. Hannity advocates that anyone crossing the isle is a traitor.

Compromise is this nation is a glorious word.

Stick a needle in my eye...

There have been an increasing amount of people that have been getting tattoos…on their eyes. This craze has stemmed from medical practice of corneal tattoos in order to treat corneal scarring. Even doctors are hesitant to perform such procedures but to do something like this solely for the purpose of body adornment is ludicrous.

What do you think about tattooing your eyes?

Caller Justin thought it is crazy. Maybe we need to come up with better contact lenses so that people don’t have to tattoo their eyes.

Some of these tattoos you can never cover up. Sometime in the future, maybe when they are in their 80’s, would want their

Caller Dave thought that the eye tattoo is a little scary and sick. Has two sons that have tattoos. Once of his sons had a Chinese character tattooed on him, and it turns out that they go the character wrong. The symbol actually means flatulence.

Caller Matt works in the tattoo removal business. There are a lot of clients that come in and tell him “what was I thinking?” They have brand new equipment that is actually able to remove colors. The sticker price to remove a smaller tattoo is about 700 dollars.

Grassley calls for suicide

What do we do with people that are corporate pirates? What do we do with people that are evil? Some have suggested that they “fall on their own swords” and do away with themselves. At least three people have committed suicide from news of personal losses with Bernie Madoff’s 50 billion Ponzi scheme. Iowa Senator Charles Grassley suggested that the executives of the insurance giant AIG should accept responsibility for its collapse and kill themselves.

Did Senator Grassley’s comments go too far or is he expressing the sentiments of the American people?

Caller Chris didn’t feel that comment was right but would like to see those responsible for writing the contracts give an explanation. How could their bonuses be guaranteed even when they knew that the company was going bankrupt?

Caller Brian didn’t agree with suicide that was suggested by Senator Grassley. Brian as a business owner would never give a bonus when the company didn’t perform. Let them and General Motors go down the drain.

Caller McLain also didn’t agree with Senator Grassley’s comments but can understand his frustrations. We need to look down the street and others that are taking the government handouts need to take a bow. Some of these situations were made possible by the legislation. What some of those people in the committees should put a mirror in front of themselves and identify what they have done to facilitate these things. Some of this could be traced right back to congress.

Caller Barbara owned a small business for ten years and wouldn’t think of giving money away when things weren’t going well. She also asked: “what happened to honor?” Shouldn’t the captain go down with the ship?

The good news is that with these huge examples of fraud, there are still lots of people that want to do things the right way.

Caller Bruce owns his own company and when it started to tank in November he cut his own salary significantly. Bruce met with his bank and some other investors to make sure that things would work out in these tough times. There is a great feeling that comes with doing things the right way.

Missing the point

Is nothing sacred in this world anymore? What we are talking about is the HBO program depicting life as a polygamist called Big Love. HBO promised the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that it would not depict the church in any way. However that line has become blurry in recent episodes.

The show’s producer told the press that “We are going to show something that has never been shown on television before.” “They researched it out the wazoo,” in order to insure that it was accurate. Doesn’t this sound like something sincere and respectful? They supposedly hired an x-Mormon consultant to insure its accuracy.

There are members of the LDS church that are contacting their local cable providers to tell that if this airs than they are going to have to reconsider cable services.

Caller Tanya told of an experience where she was given a Bible from another faith that contained a pamphlet explaining the LDS temple ceremony. It is sacred but the temple ceremony is only valuable when the spirit is present. This will not happen for the television show.

This is nothing exclusive to Mormons, but the benefit of this ceremony is with the spirits presence.

Caller Kim didn’t understand why this ceremony is so intrinsic to this show. They are obviously not members of the LDS church so why do they care so much? Doug pointed out that there are some resemblances in the FLDS church and that is why it’s important.

Caller Steve says bring it on. There have been efforts in the past by Hollywood to cast negative attention on the LDS church like The Mountain Meadow Massacre which absolutely flopped.

Such things say more about the insensitivities of the producers and directors than they do about the LDS Church.

Race for the seat

Battle lines are being drawn for the Senate race coming up. The first is Bob Bennett which is currently serving his 3rd term. Utah Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff, is the other contestant in the race for the Senate seat.

So who would get your vote? And if you are a Democrat, who would set your plate?

Caller Matt would vote in favor of Bob Bennett. They have both done a great job at where they are. So why ruin a great thing? Matt did feel that there were any apparent Democrat candidates but feels that both parties must make an effort to appease the other.

Caller Aaron would vote for Mark Shurtleff. This would be in part because of the fact that he really hates the career politicians or those that have been in office for a considerable amount of time.

Death with Dignity

The right thing to do when we see an animal suffering is the end its misery. Does this same principle apply to the human animal? This is the choice of a person that is suffering something worse than death. The advocate for this action, Dr. Kevorkian, felt that this was not a crime but rather a matter of choice. On the other hand, a majority feel that every person is of worth, whether 25 or 85. On the part of the physician, is this is a breach of the Hippocratic Oath?

Caller Michael is a physician himself and agreed with the adoption of the death with dignity law in Utah. He would not permit for someone to suffer longer than necessary. He felt that it wasn’t proper that we put our loved ones through pain.

Caller Scott watched his grandmother suffer from Parkinson’s disease and felt that it was a family decision. If you were to have a child in a serious accident and would be left as an invalid for the rest of their lives, would the family want to keep them that way?

There are a lot of elderly people that feel that they do not want to be a burden on their family. They don’t want to drain their estate and the resources of those they love while they suffer.

Caller Lynn is a hospice worker and feels that this is a mindset. We look to death as the most horrible thing that could happen but that we should see it as part of our life. We forget that as human beings we are here to touch others lives and likewise be touched. Death is just the opposite end of what began with birth.

Caller Judy had her sister just recently die from stomach cancer and consequently spent time in the hospice. Her sister hadn’t eaten any solid food for a couple of weeks. The hospice then increased the sedatives and Judy was told that most patients last for a week in this condition, but her sister hung on for two weeks. She wished that in this case this was allowed.

Caller Ken had changed his stance in recent years with his mother suffering from Alzheimer disease. She suffered for the last 4 years of her life in constant fear. He said that he would have made that decision for his mother.

Do we roll over?

What is happening on Capitol Hill in relation to the cigarette tax issue is really embarrassing. The attitude toward cigarette taxes in a poll last year was clear. 84 % percent thought that we really ought to raise the tax. Jacking it up the amount of tax to three dollars a pack this year, the approval only dropped 7 percent. Above food tax, and toll roads the majority want there to be taxes imposed on cigarettes. On Capitol Hill there are no ding, ding, dings as to the need for raising cigarette taxes, only ding-a-lings.

A good lobbyist with a lot of clout on Capitol Hill can make half a million dollars. There are respectable former legislatures that Phillip Morris has hired to fight against this tax. Anything that might happen is being thwarted by these powerhouses on Capitol Hill. Our problem is that we are so in awe of these former state legislatures that we will roll over and do what they want.

Senator Jay Seegmiller joined the show from Capitol Hill. He is currently lobbying for a bill that would prohibit smoking in the car with children. He has talked to hundred of citizen about this bill and only a handful of people have disagreed with him. The one point that he made about the tobacco lobbying is that citizen lobbying can be just as effective. We need to take initiative to support raising the cigarette tax. He pointed out that many of the legislators may not have ever taken a look at these polls and only paid attention to their emails and phone calls.

Utah is 34^th in the nation as to the amount of tax on cigarette. Why in the world are our legislatures so willing to listen when we are already so low? 87% on the website poll agreed with Doug on this issue.

Caller George has been smoking for 18 years and feels that we should raise the taxes on cigarettes.

Caller Kurt felt that Doug was saying exactly what needed to be said. Smoking is a tremendous health cost to our system. Doug recounted representatives of the tobacco industry told the Sweden government that the tobacco industry was saving the government money by killing people off sooner. Kurt recommended that we call our representatives and let them know, the issue is still on the fire.