More good stuff...

A few days ago I had a pleasant surprise when I answered a knock on my door. A sweet woman who lives down the road from me stood there with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers!

I knew who she was, although we had met only once before. Her son is my "landlord" and also a friend of my younger son. It seems my son Matthew ran into her (not literally) at a neighborhood gas station, and he noticed she was having some sort of car trouble. (I think it had something to do with her tires.) Being the kind-hearted soul he is, he helped her out. The flowers were her way of "paying it forward" for his assistance. An added bonus - she stayed and visited with me for a while and we discovered we had something in common. We both love arts and crafts. I took her on a tour of some of my and my mother's artwork. She was generously complimentary. I hope to be able to visit her as she suggested in the near future and view her art. I've heard that she is very talented.

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More good things have happened in our world lately. Some may not appear to be good in the beginning. One such is the recent scandalous price gouging done by Martin Shkreli, the young hedge fund manager and CEO of a startup pharmaceutical company. In September he hit the headlines when he upped the price of a lifesaving drug used in treatment of a deadly parasitic infection as well as for some AIDs and cancer patients, from $13.50 a tablet to $750 a tablet! That is a hike of 5,000%. 

As shocking as this was, he was doing what most pharmaceutical companies have been doing for years - price gouging and manipulation of a drug's stock -- with the excuse of needing the high revenue to fund "research". There have been several good articles pointing out the way drug companies have been creating massive cost increases in their products, most frequently claiming the drug is a "specialty" drug, and there is not enough demand for it to continue producing it without significant increases. If we pay attention, it is obvious that most companies are paying more for advertising and marketing than they do on research and development! The U.S. and only one other country allow the blatant advertising for the pharmaceuticals to be public... New Zealand.

By putting the spotlight on the greed inherent in these practices that hurt so many who are unable to pay for the higher costs, perhaps we will finally get our government to do something about it.

Bill Moyers presented a good article about this on his site:  Big Pharma Rips Us Off

UPDATE Oct. 23rd, 2015: In USA Today's online report: San Diego-based Imprimis Pharmaceuticals said it would offer customized versions of its drugs for less than $1 a pill as an alternative to Daraprim. Read the report here: USA Today.

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This is a totally subjective observation, one that many Democrats share with me, but the former GOP candidate for House Speaker did Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign a big favor when he let it slip that the House Select Committee on Benghazi's work had hurt Hillary in the polls. It was obvious to most that this panel was a deliberate design to defeat Hillary Clinton. "McCarthy bragged to Fox News’ Sean Hannity that “everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi Special Committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping.”  Hillary is holding her own before the Benghazi Committee today. I suspect her performance will not only cinch her nomination in the primaries as the Democratic candidate, but will also assure her being our next President. Thank you, Kevin McCarthy.

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Good news for parts of Texas that have been suffering severe to extreme drought conditions. The recent wildfire in Bastrop County made us fearful that more were in the works unless we got rain soon. That wish has been granted, and we are experiencing rain. The thirsty ground will soak it up, and the area lakes will be replenished. Now if we don't get too much, causing flooding! There's that Goldilocks Syndrome again. We have already been warned of flash flooding here in Austin in the next few days. When that happens, the only road into my neighborhood often looks like this:

Low Water Crossing

One more good thing before I close. Jade Helm is Over and Texas Still Exists!

“Oh dear Lord,” (Jon) Stewart said. “Yet another waste of Texas funds that could have been spent on actual threats, like your infamous chainsaw massacres. Texas, it’s not that I don’t find it adorable that your governor thinks your State Guard could take on the United States military. It’s like a little dog growling at a big dog, or an 8-year-old picking a fight with the Predator.” So much for the conspiracy theories surrounding the military operations of Jade Helm.

Stay dry everyone, and notice the good things happening all around you.

Peace and Love,

Marilyn