about taking hormones. My, now deceased mother, regaled the benefits of taking hormones after she passed through menopause. She loved the energy it gave her and really felt like taking HRT (hormone replacement therapy) improved her quality of life...until she got breast cancer at age 71. Her cancer traveled at the molecular level straight into her bones. She passed her annual breast exams and mammograms with flying colors--there was never any evidence of a tumor in her breasts right up to her death. In fact diagnosis to death was, for her, 39 days.

There is a correlation between HRT and breast cancer according to some studies ("Breast cancer survivors who took hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to relieve menopausal symptoms had more than three times as many breast cancer ..."

www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/hrt-and-breast-cancer0204). I don't know how she felt about her breasts after taking HRT. She, like me, was mostly annoyed by them. They were too big, too heavy, and generally just a pain in the, uh, ass.

We didn't have a family history of cancer. When the diagnosis came down--way too late for treatment--we were all hugely surprised. I'm convinced she got cancer as a result of taking HRT. So, it's a trade-off. Better quality of life for post-menopausal women with a larger risk of breast cancer later on down the road.

It's up to you to choose but I wanted to put this story into the mix. I think my mom would have chosen the HRT even given the risks because she passed the last 15 years or so of her life relieved of her many post-menopausal symptoms. However, she died way too young for me, my brothers, and our children.

and I'll say it again, Americans will have universal health coverage when they are willing to pay for it.

I live in France, one of the many First World countries that provides health care to all its citizens. The French pay a lot of taxes for the benefits they enjoy. Yeah, they bitch about having to pay for "all those people who don't work" but if you ask them if they'd rather take away their health care in order to reduce their taxes, they look at you like you're out of your mind.

Watching Michael Moore's "Sicko" illuminated and defined the basic difference between Americans and the rest of the world. Everyone except us feels that it is in all citizens' best interests to help provide for people who are unable to do it for themselves. While Americans feel that everyone should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.

Until this basic mindset changes and Americans are willing to pay 10% more taxes--to cover *gasp* the unwashed masses, as well as themselves--and let the government run health care and not big business, Americans (at least those who can) will continue to pay outrageous health care prices. Those who can't afford it will continue to suffer and die as a result.

Yeah, it's about raising taxes and you can bet that no American presidential candidate is using the dreaded "T" word (tax increase) for this election.