Reading about Essure only reinforces my knowledge that the USA is a medical disaster zone and NOTHING only approved there should be trusted. This is no tin foil hat babble, check out the BMJ: Safety and efficacy of hysteroscopic sterilization compared with laparoscopic sterilization: an observational cohort study - November 19, 2015
What frightens me is that Essure has nickel in it. Anyone who even went to medical school knows that nickel is the world's most common allergy. Nickel sensitivity is veery well studied and in some populations the sensitivity to nickel is over 10%! (Menne T, Borgan O, Green A. Nickel allergy and hand dermatitis in a stratified sample of the Danish female population: an epidemio-logical study including a statistic appendix. Acta Derm Venereol 1982;62:35-41.)What were these people thinking? This device is about as well thought out as telling women to stuff their vaginas with anything on-hand to prevent pregnancy...and just like that would do, this has also killed people from toxic shock syndrome.
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Friday, January 1, 2016
Dear Amira Hess, it's not so simple....
So Amira,
Surprisingly we have never met. Given how small the Israeli left is, you would think we would have at least seen each other. I am a card carrying member of the lunatic left. My one and only publication in the Hebrew press is in Zo Ha Derech - amcommunist leaflet which is probably read only by Israels remaining 200 or so extreme leftists, and 200 members of the state security apparatus. I was at lots of protests against the wars, active in Physicians for Human Rights and so on...but, on the other hand, I have not lived in Israel for that long.
In fact, I only made Aliya last year. Like you I had questions about why people would exercise this right that wasn't universal, and more importantly seemed mixed up with the oppression of another people. But you would never guess what precisely changed my mind...
I had attended the Technion. There I met many wonderful and complicated intellectuals including one Muslim colleague who happened to be related to a staunchly anti-Zionist politician. This guy was brilliant and kind. Years ago like every other girl in my neighborhood, I had a crush on him. As it turned out he refused to date me because I am Jewish or Jewish by association with a part of my family at least. Once he even told me "I hate Jews" to my face. I didn't think much of it, because frankly, as a black American, I've had a few "I hate white people" moments in my head.
A couple years ago I was back in the holy land, and ran into him. We caught up. I shyly mentioned that I was trying to immigrate. "I know what you think...it's wrong" I began, and rattled off a list of issues from the philisophical to the practical about Aliya. He interrupted me somewhere right around a tangent about how the legal system was designed to favor certain people..."What are you crazy?" he asked. "Come home. Just ten minutes ago you admitted you have to work so hard over there as a doctor you literally nearly died in a car crash driving home after a long shift. Come home. This is your life we are talking about! Come home!" he said, and then in a few seconds he realized the political implications of telling me it was my home and added "I mean, get a work permit so you can work in my country." And there you have it-the ultimate realization of a dream of labor Zionism. People, politically Palestinian or not, respect people who work.
I did come home, and my life- especially as a leftist- got better. Let me point out two ways. 1. My paycheck includes overtime regardless of who I work on. In the USA many of my extra hours would simply not be counted due to extreme capitalism. Here I'm a proud union member, able to provide by work as a doctor to anyone regardless of their ability to pay. In the USA, I might lose my medical license for such liberal socialist action. 2. My opinions can actually be expressed through elections. Unlike the USA, there is an extreme left involved in the government instead of hidden by a two party system featuring two corrupt parties. Outsiders may not have realized it, but the US is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Here in Israel taking money as a government official to influence you is usually illegal and called for what it is- corruption. In the US we call such actions many names: campaign contributions, lobbying and so on, and it's all part of the system.
So in sum, I found myself a place where I can labor with respect, and be part of the democratic process. I'll be using my labor and democratic rights to support many of the same causes as you do Amira...so ultimately, am I decreasing or increasing the problems of other people? Who knows, and frankly, who cares. After all, no one is paying that much attention to one crazy person. On the other hand if enough crazy people like me start showing up, we may eventually start some new confederated state with freedom, labor rights and democracy for everyone. Is that so bad?
Surprisingly we have never met. Given how small the Israeli left is, you would think we would have at least seen each other. I am a card carrying member of the lunatic left. My one and only publication in the Hebrew press is in Zo Ha Derech - amcommunist leaflet which is probably read only by Israels remaining 200 or so extreme leftists, and 200 members of the state security apparatus. I was at lots of protests against the wars, active in Physicians for Human Rights and so on...but, on the other hand, I have not lived in Israel for that long.
In fact, I only made Aliya last year. Like you I had questions about why people would exercise this right that wasn't universal, and more importantly seemed mixed up with the oppression of another people. But you would never guess what precisely changed my mind...
I had attended the Technion. There I met many wonderful and complicated intellectuals including one Muslim colleague who happened to be related to a staunchly anti-Zionist politician. This guy was brilliant and kind. Years ago like every other girl in my neighborhood, I had a crush on him. As it turned out he refused to date me because I am Jewish or Jewish by association with a part of my family at least. Once he even told me "I hate Jews" to my face. I didn't think much of it, because frankly, as a black American, I've had a few "I hate white people" moments in my head.
A couple years ago I was back in the holy land, and ran into him. We caught up. I shyly mentioned that I was trying to immigrate. "I know what you think...it's wrong" I began, and rattled off a list of issues from the philisophical to the practical about Aliya. He interrupted me somewhere right around a tangent about how the legal system was designed to favor certain people..."What are you crazy?" he asked. "Come home. Just ten minutes ago you admitted you have to work so hard over there as a doctor you literally nearly died in a car crash driving home after a long shift. Come home. This is your life we are talking about! Come home!" he said, and then in a few seconds he realized the political implications of telling me it was my home and added "I mean, get a work permit so you can work in my country." And there you have it-the ultimate realization of a dream of labor Zionism. People, politically Palestinian or not, respect people who work.
I did come home, and my life- especially as a leftist- got better. Let me point out two ways. 1. My paycheck includes overtime regardless of who I work on. In the USA many of my extra hours would simply not be counted due to extreme capitalism. Here I'm a proud union member, able to provide by work as a doctor to anyone regardless of their ability to pay. In the USA, I might lose my medical license for such liberal socialist action. 2. My opinions can actually be expressed through elections. Unlike the USA, there is an extreme left involved in the government instead of hidden by a two party system featuring two corrupt parties. Outsiders may not have realized it, but the US is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Here in Israel taking money as a government official to influence you is usually illegal and called for what it is- corruption. In the US we call such actions many names: campaign contributions, lobbying and so on, and it's all part of the system.
So in sum, I found myself a place where I can labor with respect, and be part of the democratic process. I'll be using my labor and democratic rights to support many of the same causes as you do Amira...so ultimately, am I decreasing or increasing the problems of other people? Who knows, and frankly, who cares. After all, no one is paying that much attention to one crazy person. On the other hand if enough crazy people like me start showing up, we may eventually start some new confederated state with freedom, labor rights and democracy for everyone. Is that so bad?
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