SPEAKING TRUTH to power.

CHANGE: FDA Reports Nationwide Shortage Of ADHD Drugs. Is it just me, or are we seeing more shortages lately?

UPDATE: A reader who asks anonymity writes:

As a pharmacist of 25 years currently working in hospital pharmacy-I can tell you that the drug shortages are ongoing, dire, and in some cases life-threatening. Take a look at ashp.org/shortages to see the extent of the problem. Many items on the list are for crash carts and critical care.

We’ve had to resort to back-up products, alternatives and work-arounds. All of which compromise quality of care and safety.

Nothing on why, though. And reader Anne Linehan writes:

I recently completed treatment for colorectal cancer, and my chemo was 5fu + Leucovorin. I had 8 rounds last fall, but only got the Leucovorin for 4 of the treatments; 4 treatments were 5fu only. Nationwide, there was (still is?) a shortage of Leucovorin, and oncologists were scrambling to find it. When my doctor could get his hands on it, it was rationed out to select patients depending on stage of treatment, so sometimes I got it, but other times I didn’t. My oncologist didn’t know why there was a shortage.

5fu is what goes after cancer cells, and the Leucovorin works to prolong 5fu’s effectiveness. My doctor didn’t think the lack of Leucovorin for some treatments would affect my long-term prognosis, but subconsciously there’s a little something in the back of my brain that wonders. You know?

Yeah. And Dr. Dale Russell writes:

Our hospital is frequently forwarding the medical staff updates on shortages. Some are for simple, basic compounds. Calcium gluconate? How hard is that to produce? Others are very significant, commonly used drugs that affect the course of treatment. Nitroglycerin (chest pain), ketorolac (Toradol for kidney stone and other pain), morphine (WTF?), dexamethasone (steroid with many uses), antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs.

What gives? Medication shortages seem so third-world. But then so do a lot of things lately.

COVERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: The Never-Ending Debate Over Olive Garden’s Tuscan Cooking School.

OOPS: Chatroulette Posts Lawyer’s Notes In Privacy Policy For Your Entertainment And Edification. I’m guessing that an outfit that can’t keep its lawyer’s notes private won’t do very well with my data.

OBAMA’S DISAPPOINTMENT: “The Oval Office, I always thought I was going to have really cool phones and stuff. I’m like, c’mon guys, I’m the president of the United States. Where’s the fancy buttons and stuff and the big screen comes up? It doesn’t happen.”

UP TO 50% OFF on fitness equipment.

TRIFECTA: Manly men Bill Whittle, Scott Ott, and Stephen Green on manhood.

BEN CUNNINGHAM: Tax Day Tea Parties, some initial reports.

MORE SQUABBLING OVER THE LEGITIMACY OF unpaid internships. I linked to this post on the subject from Josh Blackman a while back.

CHANGE: SAME: Obama signs bill to keep government open, but protects ‘czars’.

NEVADA: Swarm of Quakes have Experts Concerned.

PJTV: Amy Holmes, Kristen Soltis, and Katie Pavlich talk about the Atlas Shrugged movie. Is it a work of fiction? Or a documentary?

ADAM WINKLER ON GUNS ON CAMPUS: “As a professor, I’d feel safer if guns were not permitted on campus. I worry more about being the target of a student upset about failing grades than about a mass killer roaming the hallways. But there is little evidence to support my gut feeling.”

And I think he’s right that much of this is about symbolism: “Exposure can breed tolerance. Arguably, that is exactly what’s behind the growing acceptance of gays and lesbians. The visibility of gay couples in society and popular culture has led many Americans to realize that homosexuality is not wrong. Gun advocates are betting the same can happen with firearms.”

In fact, the gun-ban campaign of a few decades ago was all about stigmatizing and denormalizing gun ownership and gun owners.

MEGAN MCARDLE: The Joy Of Not Cooking: High-end retailers are counting on us to spend more money on our kitchens— even as we spend less time in them. Watching the house shows on HGTV I always see people going on about how moving into a house with a high-end kitchen will inspire them to cook more. My guess is that the inspiration wears off pretty quickly. (I also wonder if they’ll entertain as much as they think when they pick out house features that are “great for entertaining.”) Hey, selling a fantasy is part of selling, and we are still rich enough, for the moment at least, for people to buy the fantasy. Megan’s grandmother probably wasn’t.

YALE STUDENT’S TRAGIC DEATH prompts a shop safety review. Keep your hair away from the lathes! Lots more safety advice at the link.

NOW OUT ON DVD, BLU-RAY, AND INSTANT VIDEO: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part I.

SARAH HOYT on bee stings and poverty.

IS THERE ANYTHING IT CAN’T DO? Vitamin D Cuts Old Age Eye Disease Risk.

WISCONSIN: Game Over: Kloppenburg Loses to Prosser. And by more votes than are likely to turn up in some AFSCME guy’s trunk if there’s a recount.

PAUL RYAN’S BUDGET passes the House.

PJTV: Mr. Galt Goes to Washington: Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged Premiers Among DC’s Capitalist Elite. Amy Holmes with John Fund, Steve Moore, and members of the cast.

TRIFECTA ON THE EDUCATION BUBBLE: We Don’t Need No Department Of Education.

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM THE WORLD’S OLDEST MAN: “Don’t retire until you’re darn sure that you can’t work anymore. Keep on working as long as you can work and you’ll find that it’s good for you.”

The way things are going, that’ll be a matter of necessity for many of us.

DAVID BERNSTEIN’S Rehabilitating Lochner is now shipping. I’m writing a review of it right now, and it’s excellent; Bernstein makes clear that Lochner was pretty much the opposite of how it has been portrayed in the progressive narrative.

THERE’LL BE A BIG TEA PARTY RALLY THIS EVENING at the Arizona Capitol.