Hypotheses and Readings About Possible Treatments of Covid 19 (By James Knight Ord III) [9 April 2020]

I have been doing a LOT of reading about this covid thing.   I know, I know,  Me and half the planet, right?  And like everyone doing reading I have some thoughts.   So, I want to put them all together here in see what if anything folks have to say about it. . . .

*Note:  This post is littered with links to much of the things I've read.  But for every link posted, I have read at least 5-6 other journal articles, papers, and sites.  for the most part, if its not a full on research paper published by a reputable source, I generally discount it.  If I've linked to something that isn't one of those, its because that link did a better job at synthesizing multiple other sources than I had time to do.   




Disclosures:

In full disclosure, I am not a scientist by profession.  Instead, I am a lawyer.  And a lawyer is above all, a researcher.  To that end I spend much of my waking day soaking up information like a sponge. From waking up to news radio, to reading and watching the TED before tucking in at night I am in constant learning and thinking mode.  Additionally, I am an admitted nerd, much to my spouse’s chagrin, I’m certain. So my light reading is often medical journals.    

And now the Lawyer part:  

The following blog post may contain graphic content, viewer discretion is advised. This post does not, does not seek to, nor intend to, nor even remotely suggest or dispense any medical advice.  Nor does it advocate the use of any medication, herbs, supplements, topicals, or spiritual practices, substances, or products for the treatment or, relief from, any medical condition.  If you feel that you need medical advice please consult your appropriate physician. Some assembly required. Batteries not included. Results may vary, and; If this is an emergency please hang up and dial 911. 

Now for the real reason you’re clearly glued to this screen. 

Setting the stage:

As Covid-19 spread in China, researchers across all of Asia began looking at all possibilities to treat people suffering from this illness.  At Wuhan University for instance, they began testing antiretroviral drugs. Particularly they tested protease inhibitors that have been successful at treating HIV and hepatitis C.  Spain then began testing antiretroviral drugs as well.  Both have had a measure of success. I’ll discuss the whys below.  

Chinese clinicians and researchers in multiple provinces saw a series of patients experience lessened effects of Covid-19 after treatment with anti malarial drugs.  Particularly with variants of Chloroquine.  The science hadn’t been fully established as to why this phenomenon occurred however. Nor had it been peer reviewed.  Nor had it been replicated in a double blind study of more than a 1500 person sample size.  All of those steps are essential to biomedical science. And also essential to the application of the scientific method to the art of medicine.  We generally do this to insure the efficacy of treatments to avoid snake oils and hurting people. And we usually do these things before announcing a “cure."   (Note to President Trump, if you’re reading this.)

Because Covid-19 has been racing out of control and killing people, clinicians the world over have had far more leeway to use existing treatments and medicines with off label uses in an effort to see if they will help combat Covid-19.  This has produced a lot of anecdotal data for which to give us general direction and guidance when planning actual double blind scientifically controlled studies. 

What has been really interesting are the multiple directions the research is going all simultaneously it is a such a testament to the vast world resources being deployed on this medical problem. It's really amazing! 

The Chemistry of Covid-19 - Scratching the Surface

A few days ago my uncle Charlie in Florida posted a piece where a person attempted to explain the organic chemistry behind why hydroxyChloroquine seems to provide relief from Covid-19 symptoms.  


The hypotheses of that individual was two pronged.  It stated:  


1.  Covid-19 seems to be depriving the body of O2 and that it seemed to be doing so by hijacking heme.  In a manner not unlike how malaria attacks the body. 

2. Anti Malarials seemed to work on first trial in China and India. 

If this guy is right, then wouldn’t any treatment that prevented heme rupture toxicity, stopped  putting free FeO into the blood stream,  and that maintained the body’s Fe2 to Fe3 exchange system in the avioli result in a similar successful outcome?  Here's something I read to learn more on that.   

I found myself intrigued and curious if the guy was bullshitting or did his chemistry check out.  So I started looking at how does chloroquine work on the body from an organic chemistry perspective.  

To start with I wanted to know what malaria does to the body. What Covid-19 does, And then how chloroquine works on the body to counteract against the effects of malaria.  Turns out, it seems to be less about how Malaria works and more about how Clorquine works in conjunction with Zinc and what that actually does. (More on that later) 

Digging Deeper
Here’s what I found.  Researchers in China determined that "COVID-19: Attacks the 1-Beta Chain of Hemoglobin and Captures the Porphyrin to Inhibit Human Heme Metabolism"  The abstract from that journal article states in pertinent part:

"The virus is a positive-strand RNA virus with high homology to bat coronavirus. In this study, conserved domain analysis, homology modeling, and molecular docking were used to compare the biological roles of certain proteins of the novel coronavirus. The results showed the ORF8 and surface glycoprotein could bind to the porphyrin, respectively. At the same time, orf1ab, ORF10, and ORF3a proteins could coordinate attack the heme on the 1-beta chain of hemoglobin to dissociate the iron to form the porphyrin. The attack will cause less and less hemoglobin that can carry oxygen and carbon dioxide. The lung cells have extremely intense poisoning and inflammatory due to the inability to exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen frequently, which eventually results in ground-glass-like lung images. The mechanism also interfered with the normal heme anabolic pathway of the human body, is expected to result in human disease. According to the validation analysis of these finds, chloroquine could prevent orf1ab, ORF3a, and ORF10 to attack the heme to form the porphyrin, and inhibit the binding of ORF8 and surface glycoproteins to porphyrins to a certain extent, effectively relieve the symptoms of respiratory distress. Since the ability of chloroquine to inhibit structural proteins is not particularly obvious, the therapeutic effect on different people may be different. Favipiravir could inhibit the envelope protein and ORF7a protein bind to porphyrin, prevent the virus from entering host cells, and catching free porphyrins."

As the News Media started to pick up on that article they began to disseminate it so that other Doctors and researchers could use it the information. 



Scientists demonstrate how COVID-19 infects human cells

MUST READ! Research Reveals That COVID-19 Attacks Hemoglobin In Red Blood Cells, Rendering It Incapable Of Transporting Oxygen. Current Medical Protocols Could All Be Wrong!

Which also prompted another paper to challenge the first. 

Flawed methods in “COVID-19: Attacks the 1-Beta Chain of Hemoglobin and Captures the Porphyrin to Inhibit Human Heme Metabolism”

Then partitioners started reporting from the field. 

Overall however This was a really good blog thread of medical researchers and nerds was pretty helpful and I felt it was the most intriguing because of the folks on it and the many links that they shared.  


Key Take Aways From That blog thread. 

• The folks there seemed to posit that Zinc and Vitamin C might act as an antiviral to reduce a Virus' effects on the human body.  

A Series of Interesting Videos
Here are the observations of a Dr. In NYC:  He is convinced that this is NOT a regular pnemonia and that it is basically a O2 related disease kind of like Hypoxia.  He comes into play later with other treatment options. 

A Theory about Vitamin C and Chaga Mushrooms
Now this guy thinks this is a Bio weapon and he has been reviewing SARS 1 research, and then conflates some SARS 1 research with SARS 2 (Covid 19) (he has another video where he explains how he thinks that SARS 1 research led to SARS 2 development) yeah yeah. . he's a lil tin foil hat. .  BUT his ability to synthesize some of this information is pretty good, and having gone back and tried to recreate his research chain from this video for each of his claims has shown me that he's not entirely off base. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw4CcQg_1z4

Ultimately he's convinced that Vitamin C is the answer.  And he thinks that Chaga Mushrooms are the supplement that will do it.  Because the Chaga Mushrooms have high Vitamin C.  Furthermore there are some interesting papers on Chaga Mushrooms, including this one.


Trying Lupus Drugs for Covid -19 Symptom Relief
from what I've read about Lupus, Lupus is an auto immune disease that "tricks the body" into thinking that its under disease attack and thus pushes the body's immune system into overdrive and then the body floods itself with cytokines in order to fight the perceived disease.  Lupus drugs such as Hydroxy Chloroquine reduce the Cytokine storms that are caused by Lupus.  Since Covid 19 seems to cause similar cytokine storms in some patients (See Also Web M.D. Article on this) the idea that Lupus and malarial drugs would reduce the cytokine storms led to the use of trying them out.  To that end some practitioners in TX are trying Plaquenil (Hydroxyclorquine).  ie.  this would reduce the edema.  At the very least it seems to be working in some patients.  I kind of geeked out on how these drugs metabolise in the following way:  Cytochrome P450 2C8 and CYP3A4/5 are involved in chloroquine metabolism in human liver microsomes.

Trying Altitude Sickness Drugs 
In response to the Dr. in NYC describing this thing more as Hypoxemia than pnemonia there were multiple folks to posited that maybe then the answer is altitude sickness medication. To that a lady posted a video on Youtube with her ideas about it.  In response to that several physicians pipped up and claimed, wait, these haven't been tested, therefore it can't work. nevertheless some off label treatment seems to be happening out there in response to this being a dire situation world wide and researchers and clinicians being desperate to help their patients. 


What about Kratom? Im curious. . . .
In recent months I have been doing some legal work around Kratom (Mitragyna Speciosa). Kratom has been used for centuries in South East Asia, India, and the Philippines primarily for pain management and mood stabilisation, but also as an anti-malarial. Kratom isn't new in the U.S. it has been around and been studied since the 1960's. Apparently it may have some anti-inflamatory properties as well.   High in Vitamin C? Maybe. . .. who knows. . . But, At least one professor in Indonesia posited the possible use of Kratom to reduce the effects of Covid-19.  

The US. Federal Trade Commission immediately jumped all over a company that talked about this professor's presentation on their website, and claimed that the company made unfounded medial claims about kratom. (see FTC letter).  That being said, I read what the company wrote (the FTC put it in their letter) and it was interesting that the FTC actually cited them for their citing well known scientific facts in some instances.  I mean, even Wikipedia has the information. I thought that was pretty odd.  But hey, if the federal government wants to silence folks to keep people from disseminating potential information that clinicians and researchers could use to do good science, then who am I to bother them about it. John Q Citizen should just not say anything apparently and should keep his mouth shut. . . . hmmmm

All that being said I still geeked out on a Paper on Inhibitory effect of mitragynine on human cytochrome P450 enzyme activities.  Particularly the finding that: "The findings of this study reveal that mitragynine might inhibit cytochrome P450 enzyme activities, specifically CYP2D6." I mean, don't ALL herbals affect the body and don't they all have a potential to interact with any thing else that uses the same metobolic pathway?  It seems pretty self explanatory.

It made me wonder if there were any groups of folks out that that tried kratom, the same way that the Youtube guy claimed a group tried Chaga Mushrooms?  And if so what are they reporting anecdotally?

AntiRetrovirals
Spain began a trial in Barcelona and in Seville on using HIV drugs to combat Covid-19.  China Also began trials.  U.C. Berkely had some success as well.  

My Key Take Away's from all my readings.  

• The experts just DO NOT know what this damn thing is exactly. 

• The experts know a lot about it but not everything. 

• The experts are still grappling for answers on how best to combat this damn virus. 

• The virus seems to deprive/starve people of oxygen. 

• The virus seems to create agitation and inflammation in the lungs. 

• People on ventilators don't seem to fair too well. 

• The more we learn about chloroquine the less it seems to be working by itself and it seems to have dangerous side effects. 

• Things that reduce viral load and reduce a virus' ability to replicate or infect other cells seem to be effective at slowing it down within a patient or reducing its effects on the body. 

• Vitamin C, Zinc, Antiretrovirals, and Chloroquine have all been tried with varying degrees of success.  

• There may be some other drugs or herbals out there that haven't yet been tried but that have similar chemical properties, and might have some efficacy in combatting the virus.  

SOOO,  for all my reading and time involved. I'm really no better off if I catch Covid-19. . . unless of course I have a stash of Vitamin C, Zinc, Chaga Mushrooms, Azithromyacin, Kratom, Altitude sickness drugs, Hydroxy Chloroquine, and Antiretrovirals, and then who knows if they'll work . . it seems I better download some mask patterns and bust out the old singer. . .

On Equal Rights

It was Abraham Lincoln who said: "If you cannot be an honest Lawyer, Strive to be honest without being a Lawyer"
I suppose the same could be said of Christians. "If you cannot be an honest Christian, strive to be honest without being a Christian."
What the LDS church is currently arguing as the "Free Exercise of Faith" as argued for by the Dalin Oaks (Mormon Apostle) taking point IS NOT the "Free Exercise of Faith" but rather a LEGAL PRIVILEGE of discrimination and liability exemption for that discrimination.

Its time the Church get honest and call it what it is.

The current arguments of "Free Exercise of Faith" are a ruse to use ones faith as the rational to exempt persons of faith from public accommodation laws that ban INCORPORATED ENTITIES who avail themselves of the public purse and the public's liability and tax shelters, AS WELL AS PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE NOT INCORPORATED BUT WHO INVITE THE PUBLIC INTO THEIR PLACES OF PRIVATE BUSINESS from discriminating against people based on the target person's membership in an historically oppressed minority group.

The Church argues that employees of INCORPORATED ENTITIES, AND NON INCORPORATED INVITEORS should be able to claim religious conscious exemption and therefore not have to abide by public accomodation laws that are NEUTRAL TO RELIGION but require ALL PERSONS REGARDLESS OF RELIGION TO ABSTAIN FROM DISCRIMINATION ON THE GROUNDS OF RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION, CREED, GENDER, POLITICAL AFFILIATION, and RACE.

We are currently in a national discussion on whether to include SEXUAL ORIENTATION, and GENDER IDENTITY to the list of minority groups who are protected by the federal public accommodations laws.

the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution Reads in Pertinent Part:

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

The 14th Amendment Protects the above classes of persons in its operation because whenever a government actor makes a law that negatively affects the historically protected groups, the law must be looked at as suspect, with a heightened level of scrutiny, to insure that a majority public bias against these groups is NOT eroding the minority groups rights to their priviliges and immunities, due process or equal protection under the law, as EQUAL CITIZENS VESTED WITH THESE RIGHTS.

Neither the Congress of the United States, NOR The Supreme Court of the United States have yet applied full text of the 14th amendment to Sexual identity and Gender Identity Minority Groups.

It is CLEAR however, that both of those groups DO IN FACT meet all of the criteria for having been an historically oppressed minority group as those criteria have been voiced by the Congress and the Courts. It is therefore only a matter of time before this happens.

For the last 30 years since Dalin Oaks Wrote the infamous Anti-Gay Strategy Memo The LDS Church has engaged a financial, legal, and verbal war to KEEP SEXUAL ORIENTATION, and GENDER IDENTITY from becoming protected classes.

The LDS Church acting as a political machine raised and spent over $200M USD from 1987-Present for the purpose of KEEPING SEXUAL MINORITIES AND THEIR FAMILIES FROM BEING TREATED EQUALLY UNDER THE LAW. That effort culminated in Prop 8. In the 6 years since, Prop 8, The LDS Church learned from the PR nightmare that was Prop 8 and has instead chosen to target states legislators. It has sponsored a series of legal conferences and legal scholars to devise a strategy to that end.

The legal scholars and Legal strategists developed the current strategy of claiming religious privilege under the 1st Amendment. They did this with the LDS Church's funding. They crafted legislation to achieve that end and this legislative session the "Religious Conscious Exemption" Bill was introduced into every state legislature where a Conservative MORMON was an elected legislator.

UT, MT, ID, CA, OR, NV, AZ, CO, KS, ND, OK, GA, and now MO.

Based on the well established FACTS the current strategy and push, is a dishonest attempt to secure a legal privilege to discriminate against sexual minorities in the name of religious freedom.

This same argument was made during the Racial Civil Rights Movement, It failed then. It will fail again.

It failed because allowing religious individuals a personal exemption from laws that are made to protect everyone would result in anarchy.

To quote Justice Scalia:

"It is a permissible reading of the [free exercise clause]...to say that if prohibiting the exercise of religion is not the object of the [law] but merely the incidental effect of a generally applicable and otherwise valid provision, the First Amendment has not been offended....To make an individual's obligation to obey such a law contingent upon the law's coincidence with his religious beliefs, except where the State's interest is 'compelling' - permitting him, by virtue of his beliefs, 'to become a law unto himself,' contradicts both constitutional tradition and common sense.' To adopt a true 'compelling interest' requirement for laws that affect religious practice would lead towards anarchy." Employment Division v. Smith. (US 1990)

It was Abraham Lincoln who said, "These men ask for just the same thing, fairness, and fairness only. This, so far as in my power, they, and all others, shall have."

And so shall it be with sexual minorities, despite the LDS Church's Best Efforts

PROPOSED 28th AMENDMENT

PROPOSED 28th AMENDMENT

1.                 All citizens who attain the age of majority shall automatically be registered to vote in the district where they reside upon attaining the age of majority.  Voting in all federal elections shall be compulsory, and any citizen who is eligible and does not vote may be required to serve 3 months of extra jury duty or community service.  Interference with, infringement upon, or abridgment of a persons constitutionally protected right of franchise shall be a felony and shall permanently disqualify the infringer from holding federal state or local government offices,  government employment, employment as or for any government contractor or any affiliate status.  

Each State, Commonwealth, Territory, or First Nations Reserve, shall be responsible for issuing secure voter identification to every citizen residing in their jurisdiction, and shall have 2 years to effectuate the same, After 2 years said governments shall not seat their congressional delegation, nor shall they vote for the president or vice president, until they have provided at least ninety percent 90% of its total adult persons, and 80% of persons making up its historically marginalized groups of adult persons with secure voter Identification. 

Elections for Federal office shall be held on not less than three consecutive days, the first Monday through Wednesday in November. It shall be a felony for anyone to campaign one week or less before an election.  Except that the government may provide wide spread information on where and how to vote.  

The Congress shall promulgate penalties to state governments, state executives, legislators, officers, employees and contractors for violations of these provisions. 

.

.

.   

2.              No person nor entity, whether governmental, public, or private shall infringe upon the Human Rights, Civil Rights, or other Rights, Privileges, or Immunities of Citizens of the United States nor the Citizens of any State, Commonwealth, Territory, First Nations Reserve, nor any political subdivisions thereof. 

It shall be the duty and jurisdiction of Article III Courts to ensure due process and equal protection under the law for all persons, and that that no governmental entity effectively silences, underrepresents, or marginalizes a subset group of its population based on that group's race, religion, creed, color, skin tone, caste, gender, sexual orientation, nor any other inherent trait of persons, nor any trait used historically to discriminate for unequal application of the law or denial of due process, Nor by political party or political affiliation. 

.

.

.

3.               The Department of the Treasury, all taxation, all revenue collection, and all spending shall be seated under the Congress and shall report to the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint the Political appointees in the Treasury Department and it shall be the providence of the Senate to ratify said appointments by a majority vote. The Executive Branch shall only be entitled to spend those funds that the congress approves, in the way that the congress approves them, and shall not impound funds by refusing to spend funds in the manner in which the Congress prescribes. Any attempt by an executive or executive appointee to violate this clause shall be an impeachable offense.  

.

.

.

4.                On every ballot, for every seat of every representative body under the jurisdiction of the United States, or any of its States, Commonwealths, Territories, or First Nations Reserves, or any political subdivision thereof, the first choice on the ballot shall read "No Candidate Below." 

If "No Candidate Below" wins a majority of the votes cast, a new election must be called and conducted within three months. During the new election all candidates on the previous ballot shall be barred from running. No State executive or legislature may make temporary appointments to seats where "No Candidate Below" wins a majority of the votes cast.

. 

.

.

5.             No person shall serve more than 20 years in the Congress. No person shall serve more than 2 terms in the Senate. No Person shall serve more than 6 terms in the House of Representatives.

This repeals the 22nd amendment and replaces it with the following: No person shall serve as President or Vice President more than 12 years combined, in either or both offices. 

. 

.

.

6.              Whenever the Congress allows the Executive's rule-making powers to amount to, or result in, the effect of making law or binding rules, the Congress shall appoint a committee of not less than twenty Five (25) members of the House of Representatives and three (3) members of the Senate to together oversee each executive rule making body and said congressional committee shall, by a majority vote, approve or deny each rule promulgated by the executive before it may be implemented. In the event that the Committee votes to deny a rule, the Executive may demand a "yes" or "no", role call, floor vote, by the full Congress, on said rule and only said rule, and said floor vote shall be held in each house within 90 days of the appeal by the Executive.

. 

.

.

7.                 This Amendment repeals the 17th Amendment and replaces it with the following:

To insure that Senators be highly regarded statesman that put the Nation, and the State before any association of persons, the Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote in the Senate. The method of filling each Senate seat shall alternate term to term, equally, between the following: First by a vote of two-thirds of the legislature of the state; Then in the next election cycle, by a majority of the votes cast by the citizens of the State.

Senators may be recalled by special recall election, when ten percent (10%) of enfranchised constituents petition the legislature of the Senator's state, the State shall hold a recall election. Other rules for recall may be determined by a vote of two-thirds of each State's legislature, and signed by its executive. No State's rules may so encumber recall procedures so as to effectively preclude or hinder recall.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: provided, that the legislature of a State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the vacancies are filled by special election. Failure on the part of the legislature of a State to appoint a Senator in the regular process of appointment shall not constitute a vacancy to be filled by executive writ or special election. No senator who has been recalled may be re-appointed by a State's legislature or Executive.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution. 

. 

.

.

8.             For all representative bodies within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any of the several States, Commonwealths, Territories, or First Nations Reserves, or any political subdivision thereof, that are based on population size, the total number of Representatives shall be equal to the cubed root of the population of the jurisdiction being apportioned as set after each decennial census. 

(***NOTE TO READER:  Current number would be 693 members in Congress)

.

.

.

9.              All representative bodies within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any of the several States, Commonwealths, Territories, or First Nations Reserves, or any political subdivision thereof, that are based on population size, shall use the "shortest Split line algorithm" ie. the following mathematical formula for the drawing of constituency boundaries: 

        1.  Start with the boundary outline of the state.

        2.  Let N=A+B where A and B are as nearly equal whole numbers as possible.

        3.  (For example, 7=4+3. More precisely, A = ⌈N/2⌉, B=⌊N/2⌋.)

        4.   Among all possible dividing lines that split the state into two parts with population ratio A:B, choose the shortest. (Notes: since the Earth is round, "line" more precisely means "great circle." If there is an exact length-tie for "shortest" then a tie breaker between the lines shall favor using the line closest to North-South orientation, and if it's still a tie, then use the Westernmost of the tied dividing lines. "Length" means distance between the two furthest-apart points on the line, that both lie within the district being split.)

        5.     After the process is completed once there will remain two hemi-states, each to contain a specified number (namely A and B) of districts. The commission will then treat them recursively via the same splitting procedure.  (If any residence is split in two by one of the splitlines the residence shall be declared to lie in the most-western (or if the line is EW, then northern) of the two districts.)

(*NOTE TO READER: For more information on the Shortest splitline districting see: http://rangevoting.org/SplitLR.html )  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUS9uvYyn3A)

.

.

.

10.               All representative bodies within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any of the several States, Commonwealths, Territories, or First Nations Reserves, or any political subdivision thereof, that are based on population size, shall be elected according to the Score/Range Voting system. 

Any political party that wins three percent or more of the total number of votes cast, nation-wide, in any Presidential election, shall appoint one voting member to the U.S. House of Representatives for each of the next two terms. said voting members shall be added in addition to the number of members calculated by the cubed root formula.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the House of Representatives the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, that the legislature of a State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the vacancies are filled. 

. 

.

.

11.               The dealings and deliberations of the Congress, and all rule making bodies shall be public.  All legislation passed by the Congress must be in plain language and able to be easily read and understood by the general public.   Neither the Congress, nor any Rule making body may vote on, nor pass any piece of legislation, or rule, that is too long or cumbersome for the public to easily understand.  All legislation proposed by the Congress shall be transparently and conspicuously made public. Excepting an emergency, the Congress shall not pass any legislation nor any amendment thereto that has not been first presented to the public, in the most transparent, most conspicuous, most obtainable, and most usable way possible, for a period of at least tone fortnight prior to it being voted on.  It shall be the Jurisdiction of Article III Courts to determine if legislation violates this section.  

.

.

.

12.              The Supreme Court shall be amended as follows: 

No member of the Supreme Court shall serve more than 18 years. Seats on the Supreme Court shall filled at 2 year intervals. 

Each state shall have at least one Article III District Court as the Court of first instance, and there shall be  at least one appellate level Court for every 3 States, Territories, Commonwealths, or First Nations Reserves in the union, apportioned as close to the jurisdictional boundaries and with as equal population numbers between districts as is reasonable.

 

At Congress' discretion and by a 2/3 majority of both houses, the Congress may add temporary adjunct Justice seats to the Supreme Court, in groups of 2 seats, to assist the Court in its caseload. Any said adjunct Justice seats that are added shall remain until the Congress votes by a 2/3 majority vote of both houses of the Congress to reduce or increase the seats on the Court. Adjunct Justices shall be chosen at random from all Federal Appellate Judges, shall then be elevated from the Appeals Court to Adjunct Justice, shall serve for a 3 year term, then return to their Appeals Court.  Adjunct Justices shall not require a new Senate confirmation vote, The Senate shall consider that each Appellate Judge could become an Adjunct Justice at random and shall conduct their confirmations accordingly.  

Whenever Adjunct Justices seats are approved the Supreme Court may choose to manage its docket by assigning seven Justices at random to hear and decide cases. 

. 

.

.

13.             It shall be a felony for a Member of the Congress, any party in the Executive branch including the President and Vice President, or any party within the Courts, nor any governmental official, officer, employee, or contractor, to engage in self dealing, using any insider information to enrich themselves, or receive any emoluments or favors of any kind, from persons or entities (except campaign donations from real persons in being, and solely for the express purpose of campaigning for office, which funds shall be audited from time to time), or to engage in unethical practices in the execution of the duties of their office. Said felony shall be a disqualifying event from allowing said person to ever hold any office or consultancy, or employment with any level of government, within the boundaries of the United States.  

No government elected official, nor appointed official, nor officer, nor employee, nor contractor shall be exempt from any rule or law governing the public, without an express and three-fourths (3/4) majority vote of both houses of the Congress and the ethics commission. If it is prohibited for the population, it is prohibited for all persons working for or one behalf of the public and the government. 

.

.

.

14.             All persons elected, employed or in any way subject to any of the three co-equal branches of government, shall adhere to ethics rules and punishments promulgated by an Ethics Commission independent of the three co-equal branches of government.    

Each person appointed to the ethics commission shall be a citizen of the United States for the previous 10 years, and during which time shall not have served in any government office, elected nor appointed at any level of government, excepting professors of ethics at public institutions. 

Ethics commissioners shall serve a term of 3 years.  No person may serve more than 2 terms on the commission. One third of the ethic's commission shall be appointed each year. So that for the first set of appointments, one third of the jurisdictions appointing shall appoint a commissioner for 1 year, one third shall appoint for 2 years, and one third shall appoint for 3 years. This shall be decided in alphabetical order in groups of three. 

Each State's, Commonwealth's, Territory's, and First Nations Preserve's legislature shall appoint one member to the ethics commission by a vote of 3/4 of the legislature.  Failure to appoint shall mean that said jursidction shall forfeit its seat on the commission until it appoints its member.  

The Congress may impeach and remove a member of the commission by only by 2/3 majority of both houses.  

An appointing legislature may impeach or remove a member of the Commission, for any reason, by a 3/4 vote of its legislature. 

Ethics Commissioners shall execute their duties without respect to any party affiliation. All communications between commissioners and others, respecting the commissioners duties, or wherein the commissioner might receive a gain of any kind, shall be made public.  It shall be a felony for a commissioner to engage in unethical practices in the execution of the duties of the commission. 

The Congress must adequately fund the commission to perform its work. The Commission may at its discretion hire or appoint a staff necessary to accomplish its work. Congress shall appropriate funds necessary for the commission to do its work, Congress may not defund the commission, nor may Congress, nor the Executive or any agency thereof, nor the Courts do anything to prevent the Commission from doing its work. It shall be a felony for Congress or the Courts, or any Executive Branch member or employee to interfere with the mission and workings of the ethics commission. 

The ethics commission shall have jurisdiction to nullify, by a majority vote of its members, but only as to the Courts, the Congress, or any person in the Executive Branch, any benefit or privilege passed by the Congress that only or primarily, unfairly, or disproportionately comparative to the general population, benefits any government official, employee of the government, or a party not deemed to be arms length from government officials.  Such power shall be in the sole discretion of the commission. 

The commission may not remove a member of Congress, member of the Executive, or Judge, or Member of the Supreme Court from office, but may devise punishments fitting to violations of its promulgated rules and may recommend criminal prosecution or removal from office. 

If criminal prosecution is recommended by a majority vote of the commission, a special prosecutor shall be appointed by the Commission and shall operate independently to prosecute the the crimes discovered by the special prosecutor or commission, the other co-equal branches of government shall not interfere with, or exercise any control over the special prosecutor. 

If recommendation for removal from office is made by the commission, then the house of representatives  must, within thirty-six hours, hold a public, "yes or no", role call, floor vote, during the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., to decide the issue of removal of the member.  All members of the house must attend and vote yes or no as to the removal vote. 

If the commission recommends removal of a member of Congress and the House of Representatives does not remove the member, a recall election must be scheduled within 90 days to determine if the voters of the district wish to remove the member of the Congress, if a member of Congress is convicted of any crime that was investigated by or recommended for prosecution by the ethics commission said member shall be barred for life from holding any further federal office, employment, honor, or any federal appointment. 

Where the Commission recommends removal of a member of the Supreme Court or any lower Court, or any party in the Executive branch, the Congress must conduct an impeachment investigation, and must hold a floor vote on impeachment of the accused within a month of the recommendations' delivery to the Congress. 

The Commission's power does not supplant the Congress's power of investigation and impeachment, but is preliminary thereto and the Commission's findings shall be delivered to the The Congress for use in its investigation and impeachment proceedings.  

. 

.

.

15.             All contributions to political campaigns, or ballot measures, anywhere within the United States, and any State, any Commonwealth, any Territory, any First Nations Reserve, and any political subdivisions thereof. shall be sourced to their original contributor, who must be a real person-in-being, and citizen of the United States that has attained the age of 16 years at the time of contribution.  Where a contribution is monetary, or in kind, A contributor may only contribute to candidates and ballot measures in the district in which the contributor has been registered to vote for the prior two years.  Where the contributor is contributing their own time, without any compensation of any kind, to anyone, they may contribute to any campaign in any jurisdiction. 

It shall be a felony for any non-real person in being, a non-human entity, or association of persons, to contribute to a political race, or ballot measure, or a candidate, or campaign for office.  

For all political campaigns and issues that appear on a ballot, A contribution level, below which non-disclosure shall be permitted, may be promulgated by the Congress but shall only be implemented by a three-fourth's majority vote of both houses of the Congress, signed by the President, and then passed by a plebiscite of a 2/3 majority of all United States Citizens who are eligible to vote and shall be held at the same time as a Presidential election.  Such a non-disclosure referendum, if implemented, must expire not more than every twelve years. 

Where an issue is on a ballot, it shall, during the fourty-eight months prior to the vote, be a felony to use contributions originating outside the jurisdiction of the ballot measure to sway voters within the jurisdiction. It shall be a felony to conceal the identity(ies) of contributors to a campaign or ballot measure. 

Non human entity media and publication platforms may allow campaign messages, and public participation, but may not in any way promote one candidate, or ballot measure result over its competitors without loudly and conspicuously stating their bias in every way and every time any measure is used to accomplish said goal. It must also publicly and conspicuously disclose any methods used to accomplish said goal.  And must also provide equal time to the countering campaign message.  No foreign owned or controlled entity may participate in the political process.  

Any non human entity found in violation of these provisions by an Article III Court shall be dissolved and liquidated and a portion of its assets, as determined by a mandatory vote by congress within 90 days of said adjudication, shall be seized and used as a supplement to promulgate the work of the ethics commission, and its directors and officers or controlling persons, shall face personal joint and several financial liability.   

Any person convicted of violating these provisions shall be guilty of a felony, and shall be barred from holding any office, employment, or contract, of the United States, nor any State, nor Commonwealth, nor Territory, nor First Nations Reserve, nor any political subdivisions thereof. 

I AM THE 99%

I saw this picture today on a friend's facebook wall. It kinda inspired me and pissed me off both at the same time.

Ya know. despite my best efforts I still graduated with school debt.

In undergrad I financed a double major in 2.5 years with study abroad. I did this at Christopher Newport University. I still graduated with 17K USD in school debt. I was taking 21-27 hours every semestre to finish faster and maximise flat fee tuition that was charged my university. I worked part time, lived at home 1 year, and lived on campus for "free" as an RA the second year. I paid $500 USD for my car and drove it for 4.5 years. I didn't spend a lot of money. I was FRUGAL to say the least. I didn't have a mobile phone at all until I graduated. It was rather austere. I chose a grad school where tuition was cheaper than my undergrad (if that is even possible), and I created value in exchange for every subsidy I got from "The Church" (I went to law school at Brigham Young University).

@ grad school The cost of living was about 20K / year. The university under reported it at 11K USD per year. That was lie. I could have done it about 5K per year cheaper but I refused to share a bedroom with another student and I had to rent a flat that was away from campus, and gay friendly. Moreover I had to do unpaid externships for credits because I needed the credits to graduate early so as not to rack up more school debt, nor be kicked out of school for being gay. That was a constant fear that I lived under at BYU. I did law school in 2.5 years to mitigate those issues.

I worked in the summers to pay my living expenses in the school year. The summer before starting grad school, I was a stripper. The first summer, I did an unpaid externship for school credit, and worked for the church saving them about 100Xs the value of my tuition and mission subsidies. I also did summer sales that year and earned enough to pay my entire second year's living expenses, but the company I worked for folded and stuck me for nearly 25K USD. I got 2K out of them. In all honestly I should have gone back to stripping. It paid well, paid cash every night, and paid better than any other job I had had prior.

The second summer I did another unpaid externship, and worked for BYU. a LOW paying job, it barely covered gas money, and I really needed a 3rd job. I just didn't have the time for it as my externships were paramount to graduating early.

I busted ass, And through it all was dealing with the emotional baggage of "coming out." That is A LOT to place on someone. But I managed it. And I'm NOT complaining about it. It was a great experience and a GREAT education.

Despite my best efforts however, I still walked with 86K in combined undergrad and graduate debt. That's A LOT OF MONEY! And its not cause I was sitting on my laurels. I had scholarships, pell grants, work, etc. AND I was living below my means, and I was making it. I had a great time, and it was a good experience so I'm not complaining. I even saved back money in an emergency fund.

I totally can sympathise with this kid. . Had I not been screwed by the summer sales company, and one other employer who fired me from a 6 figure job for being gay, Id have had all my school debts paid off in the first year after college. I busted ASS and did everything right, and I STILL GOT SCREWED. .

AND THAT IS WHAT MAKES ME PART OF THE 99%!

Staying. . .

The North wind blew. I begged HIM not to, but it was time to go, and HE told me as much. I frantically began to gather the pieces of my life strewn about both haphazardly, and yet with painstaking care in the unfounded hope that leaving my bits here and there would somehow serve as a tether. No use in such foolishness. The ferocity with which HE forced my dislodging also severed the ties of love and life, the connexions to friend and even foe. . .

I ache as the chill of the North fills me and drives me onward. . .Gone are the warmth of the man I held, the gemütlichkeit felt amoungst friends and wine. Replacing them is the cold that drives and drives and licks at my heals forcing me onward to something new.

Funny how we remember things. I used to embrace the change, run towards it faster than the wind HIMSELF. I used to welcome HIS coming like an old friend. I was always ready to go when HE called, my life neatly packaged and ready to be shipped, nothing left behind, no roots planted in tera-firma, everything portable. I would rush to the next experience and set up shop, greeting all of the newness and richness that surrounded me.

Not any more - I drag my heels, my arms are outstretched, my finger tips being pried away angrily gripping for dear life to the man who shared my bed. The wind hits my tears and they sting my face at their instant frost. Dear life is what I want. . . a dear, sweet, simple life with the man I love - uncomplicated, unadorned, and untouched by HIS cold and frosty whip.

Alas, it is too much to ask. . .my last finger is pried away, I beg the man who shared my bed to follow and go with. He stares back at me with the eyes of a boy. The love I thought I had from him was fleeting and I realise that my fate is drawn. I bow my head, the aching sobs pouring from my chest are muffled in the cold blow of the North. HE will masque my pain, HE always does. . .

Just Say No To Socialism

So in all fairness I did not write this post. I ran across it and felt like it needed permanent space on my blog. . . .

so without further ado. . . here is the re-post:

This morning I was awakened by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the United States Department of Energy. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the Federal Communications Commission regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of United States Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.


At the appropriate time, as regulated by the United States congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the United States Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank. On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the United States Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After work, I drive my NHTSA car back home on DOT roads, to my house, that did not burned down in my absence, because of the state and local building codes and fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

I then log onto the internet which was developed by the defense advanced research projects administration and post on freerepublic.com and fox news forums and blog about how socialsism in medicine is bad because the government can't do anything right.

Just saying. . .

Universal Healthcare: A Liberal-Conservative Approach

I've spent my last year looking at healthcare from my perspective as a consumer.

1. It's over priced comparative to the rest of the civilised world.

2. It is rationed based upon wealth and class.

3. The Insurance industry is not regulated to prevent rapacious business practices.

4. Healthcare is not universal and portable.




As a Citizen, with a duty to the nation, I see that:

5. Healthcare is costing huge government expenditures on entitlement programmes that will assuredly bankrupt the nation as the baby boomers retire and join medicare.

6. Left unchecked medicare will cost more and more of my tax dollars to fund. Shrinking my pay cheque and enslaving the nation to ever increasing debt.

7. Big bureaucracies are very unresponsive to changes and market forces.



But what about my duel role in society as a business owner and an employer? As an employer and business owner I see that:

6. Healthcare is costing businesses vast expenditures making businesses non-competitive on the world market.

7. Small businesses get the shaft:

I own a small start up company. To buy health insurance in California through my business for myself and 3 employees, It would cost about $800-$1,200 USD a month per person for a 70/30 plan, with a 1.5 Million USD limit, and a $500 USD deductible, no dental, no vision, no negotiated discounts on non-covered routine surgeries like lasik.

8. Big business can negotiate steep discounts:

My boyfriend works for a large wall street investment bank, with offices nation wide. His company pays about 1/2 of what my company would pay, and they pass that savings on to their employees. For he and I to be each covered by his plan it would cost out of our pockets, about $130 USD a month each.



From the insurance companies' perspective:

9. Consumers want more coverage but continue to create more unnecessary risk, obesity, smoking, etc.



So what about trying something completely different?

I was thinking how in the hell will I afford health insurance for my employees in the next year? Then I started thinking. Why is it my responsibility as an employer to provide employees with their health insurance? Seems terribly cruel and mean, huh? But realistically, In my entire life I've never been covered by an employee plan.

When I lived overseas we were covered by national socialised health care.

When I was in the military I was covered by the military's socialised health care system.

As a civilian in the US, I've or my parents always maintained our own health coverage and been horridly subject to the market forces that price our health care.

I've never been covered by an employer benefit plan.

Never. . .


So as a small business owner, my American experience is different. It screams that I should be a conservative. And in fact I am. At least in the idea that IT IS NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY AS AN EMPLOYER TO PROVIDE YOU WITH HEALTH CARE COVERAGE.

But Im still a Social Liberal. I think Health care is an essential need that ought to be available and provided to everyone, Universal, and Portable. No one should ever go bankrupt because they cannot afford to pay for health care.

As a states rights thinker, I believe that the federal governments role ought to be limited to Foreign policy, guaranteeing universal Human rights, providing a stable interstate commerce environment where citizens are protected from rapacious practices that are perpetuated by both each other and non-human entities (businesses etc.).


As a Fiscal conservative, I do not think that The Federal Government should necessarily take on the cost of insuring people. One: the Federal government is TERRIBLE at managing its debts and obligations. Two: the Federal Government is too responsive to political whim. Three: the legislative process is not one that is geared toward the goals of either business (making money) or the art of medicine (healing people). Four: The Federal Government's irresponsible management of its current entitlements system tells me they cannot be trusted to manage yet another entitlement system.

Now i like to think Im a bit of a slice of America. Socially liberal, fiscally conservative, not particularly trusting of the Federal Government's ability to manage large undertakings that last more than about 6 years or 1.5 election cycles.



So how do we do this?
Based on MY political come-froms how would I structure health care?

First off with a degree in Government Admin/International Political Economy, one thing I know is that whilst other national governments were designed to work, ours was designed specifically not to work. Not that that is a bad thing. The founders designed our system so that the difficulty of passing legislation would be in and of itself, a check on the Federal Government's ability to interfere with the several states spheres of influence, and slow its expansion. The idea was to keep it simple.

But that doesn't lend itself to solving huge problems like health care in a way that is efficient or responsive.

So what to do?
A non-federal approach. Smaller systems are more responsive to change. And until we get this thing sorted out, then a one sized fits all system isn't going to do well for anyone except replace a bad system with a system that may or may not be bad.

I think that taking a few small states and allowing each of them to try a different approach almost like little laboratories. Might be a good start.

Take Utah for instance. It is geographically isolated, Has a highly concentrated population, and is a small population of 3M. It has a very conservative slant and they would be an excellent incubator to test the following:

1. No more employer based health care. It creates a false sense of economy because companies absorb the increases in costs that result from their employees accumulation of more risk. Since UT is so conservative, and is a state full of small businesses, doing away with employer based health care in UT would work splendidly.

2. Make every consumer buy their health care from the open market.

3. Create 3 private insurance exchanges that dictate what levels of coverage that insurance exchange will offer, let the state dictate via a board of Doctors, Lawyers, elected Citizens, and insurance representatives and have that board dictate what basic minimum coverage should be, then have intermediary recommended coverage, and then have a higher tier of recomended coverage.

3. Let major health insurance providers bid for the contract to cover the pool in each exchange. Let each exchange decide what it's level of the three coverages it will offer,

4. Allow everyone to buy their insurance those three exchanges. Since oligarchy creates economies of scale.

5. Medicare and medicaid participants should be required to buy into the exchanges as well, with medicaid supplying payment via those exchanges so as to keep those people in the insurance pool.

The idea here is to make people responsive to the ways in which their behaviours affect their health care costs.

In addition take the costs off of employers, Employees will start to demand higher pay once they have to bear the cost of insuring themselves.

So what about the young who then think they are invincible and dont have to buy insurance or the ones who wont buy in?

Employers can mandate that their employees have insurance. The same way that Universities mandate that their students buy insurance. The state that can mandate that persons using certain services must buy health insurance. Example. You want to have a drivers license. You must buy both liability insurance and health insurance. All of a sudden a large segment of society will be essentially forced to buy health insurance.

Now what about the ones who cant afford, or won't buy it and take their chances.

For the can't affords we create an income based buy in system that incentivises purchase of the insurance, but still helps them NOT to have to use a huge % of their income on premiums.

The low wage subsidy basically follows a chart that says if you make this much, you must contribute this much toward your premium, and then you can buy into the exchange, and the difference in your premium and the normal amount will be made up by a user fee on all the people who use the exchange. This covers people at the bottom of the barrel.

And the folks who dont use the exchange and dont buy any insurance cause they think they can skirt by? Make a large amount of societal priviliges contingent on carrying health insurance. So much so that the dis-incentive is huge and the incentive is great. like the drivers license requirement.

Then you have pretty much everyone covered, it's Not govt run, it is govt. monitored, its not too large to make changes to, It forces people to get SKINY and healthy because they will see how the cost in the market responds to their weight loss, and health factors. And it will allow doctors to only have to deal with three health insurance companies Not a Heap of them.

Portability is an issue for out of staters coming to UT but the insurance can have an out of state supplemental coverage available to purchase OR each of the insurance companies can treat you in their provider network that is out of state.

I think this system would be far greater in terms of personal responsibility, coverage, and meeting the needs necessary. without a huge federal tax or a huge federal bureaucracy, and would provide the solution to the problem.