This is the final of a three part series. The first two focused on my "heroically" taking on the forces of evil, a right wing radio personality and a powerful developer who was quietly expanding his control of the media in this great city. First diary, Second
The full title of the exposition is "Successful Aging Expo of 2012, Sponsored by the San Diego Union Tribune" The right wing hate radio monster, was a funny, comedic libertarian a 27 year old who unlike other speakers with M.D.s and Ph.Ds, just barely got his B.A., who handled dealing with these people in the audience, the "Depends" and "Ensure" crowd by imagining we were his Nana, who loves him dearly so there was nothing to be nervous about-that's exactly what his Nana told him to do.
My wingnut radio monster, Mike Slater, turned out to be absolutely unhateable. When I confronted him for not giving my full name when he satirized my critical blog on this site, citing fairness, he said "Sure, Hi Al," and said that he would provide the info on it Monday on his show. (I wrote him to forget about it, since this is now old news). On the rogues list of hate mongers, Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, etc. he would be the jester, the one who fires one liners that don't demand getting out your gun, but to have another beer- and buy the services of his sponsors- and boy does he have them. This kid is a success.
So, in spite of the title that brought in the Tea Party crowd, "Obamacare, Liberty and the future of Healthcare" he never even mentioned our president, much less blame him for anything. Actually, there was very little substance, more like a Seinfeld opening monologue where he riffs, "How about those doctor bills that we never even know how much they are......"
But the day was meaningful for me in many ways. The alternate title of this expo could of been, "We are getting older, closer to death if we are lucky-- and a long period of Alzheimer's if we aren't." So, the only other talk I attended was one that Slater had used to illustrate the expertise that he lacked, James Brewer M.D., Ph.D on MRI imaging for Dementia Prognosis, saying that his authority comes from being a radio host, which means, "I can talk about anything I want."
I knew Brewer's work well, (and because he was speaking I first found out about Mike Slater's presentation) and when I wrote to him after seeing his lecture on TV, he responded in detail, not boilerplate, perhaps because of the readership I had from a dailykos diary. Yes, a recommended diary on this site allows the writer to get the attention of public figures, as you become an opinion leader for the moment, someone who can advance or retard their own goals. A diary with a few comments they can ignore, hundreds of them and they pay attention.
It was the first time I actually met him, and my respect for him grows. But, that the subject for another essay, an important one, since he is aware of the new Eli Lilli product, "Florbetapir", about to get FDA approval that will cause they very type of emotional devastation that we had been talking about. Here's a description of the evaluation by the FDA. No hint of the defects are in this report that is thinly disguised P.R. piece showing how this will be marketed to Physicians and the public. How this was approved, what forces of mendacity and ignorance conspired to unleash this on the frightened elderly is a story that will someday be told. Stay tuned to this station.
I have taken the screening test at the UCSD research project that Brewer is involved with, but didn't put the narrative on this site for various reasons, but it's available here. Look folks, Dementia is a bitch, we hate and fear it, and are pretty pissed off at the messenger who gives bad news. But That's life, and Brewer represents the kind of responsible science that minimizes the suffering, but he can't make it go away. One of the people I met at the Expo was a man who is diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment. He had two careers, a Navy officer and after retiring became a C.P.A. financial officer of a major trade association in D.C. He's taking Aricept, hoping it will make it go away. They are our friends, and he always smiles, and thinks I'm really smart so I like him a lot, but his wife was not enjoying the show, more like trying to get something important out of it, grasping for some answers to her husband's problem.
It turned out that the Union Tribune did have someone who was seriously addressing the political issues of healthcare who actually was a student of this subject, Mario D. Garrett, who is the chair of the Department of Gerontology of San Diego State University. I only caught the last few minutes of his Q and A, after leaving Mike Slater's talk, but the tone was palpably different. They were addressing real questions, not simplistic platitudes. I just wrote a long email to him that since his is on the board of the Alzheimer's Association, he can make a correction in their website that they should never have made. (He followed through by forwarding my suggestion)
There were over a hundred booths providing products and services to this older crowd, and like always, I interacted, challenged some like the man who could get me 6% interest on a five year security that is "safer than FDIC insured CD" And I found out that those reverse mortgages that banks offer to those over 62, have no risk to the financial institution as the Federal Government actually makes the loan, and the banks get the commission. But the Government does not mandate that they do genuine financial counseling to the people who pay a pretty high rate for a secured loan--another sweetheart deal to the rich and powerful.
Well, this was an interesting two weeks, from the time I first leaned of this expo, contacting Mike Slater, connecting with James Brewer and writing about it here. As I write this I'm listening to Slater's show, getting a full dose of the other culture that we ridicule on this site. It is a different world, and there is very little cross communication. Our leftist concept, we call it progressive, is a communal perspective that views accumulation of private wealth as dependent on a society based on both private enterprise and the essential functions of government. Unlike "extremists for liberty" such as Slater and his co radio hosts, who see taxes, the essential funding mechanism for government, as organized theft.
The selective exaggeration of complex laws, simple truisms such as Democrats being socialists, and this leading to fascism" are endlessly repeated. The certainty of the dire results of Obama's second term, repeated constantly by different voices, as humor, as camp, as erudition but always without meaningful rebuttal. In the few hours that I listened to Slater, as he was directly addressing my blog by name, I caught the contagion, felt it in my bones, and have a new understanding of the potency of such a drumbeat of tribal fear, and a call to action to prevent it.
I did impact Slater's presentation at the expo, since he could not do his usual preaching to the choir since he didn't know how many in the audience would be like me, and actually challenge his assumptions. As he acknowledged in his radio program, he has no knowledge of aging or of medical policy, only his libertarian patter. So, in his world all medical advances have come from private enterprise, ignoring the great advances such as the Salk polio vaccine that was created with public funding and given without royalties to the people of the world.
It's challenging and rewarding following my interests wherever they lead. I would never have listened to the Mike Slater Show, or any of his colleagues on 760AM, and learn how powerful are the forces of indoctrination, how his friendly voice is part of the station's family who always have the last word when they take an opposing call. I did stand up and demand an apology for his excerpting my essay without a full reference for listeners to read it completely at that hall at the convention yesterday, and did give out my statement, that I wrote and printed that morning.
I did what I wanted to do, and it felt right. In some ways it's because of this site, but also because I had limited readership here, no rescue, no recommended status. But, there is a self sustaining effort that isn't measured by the numbers of recs or comments. It is the reward of the few I do connect with, whom some even remember what I wrote years ago, that I myself have forgotten. And even my sister, for whom these diaries may be our last medium of communication.
Al Rodbell