HDD - If you belong to a BSI affiliated Society, there is probably someone who knows about the recent offer from the BSI President. A first time subscriber to the BSI will get not only a year membership, but will also receive the last 6 issues at no additional charge. Single domestic membership is $30. I'm a BSI Regional Director and we were sent this notice about 8 weeks ago, so check with your local society or the membership secretary to confirm this offer. By the way with this last issue, the BSI Journal has gone all color and the new editor has changed the format so it is "hobbyist and scientist" friendlier.

Unsanitary conditions are as likely in hospitals & veterinary offices as in suites & clinics, maybe even more so due to the huge numbers of patients that go through the doors every day. Antibiotic-resistant staph infections are spread in hospitals all the time. A friend even told me that her husband's doctor walked up to the bed & reached toward the husband's bandaged incision & my friend sort of laughed & said lightly (have to be nice to those doctors!), "Now you ARE going to wash your hands first, aren't you?" & that was in a big, "efficient", "professional" hospital environment, not a surgical suite. I've seen urine stained furniture in the lobby of one very pricey vet, & her steel exam table had a very rusty support which seems like it would be difficult to clean & to keep clean. I've seen a badly cracked cement floor in another vet's office; I wouldn't want my dog walking on that floor. But if surgery areas weren't sterilized, every person, every animal, would likely emerge with an infection. Shelters & spay/neuter clinics have to comply with state law. The attorney general, on recommendation from the state health department, can take action. If city- or county-run surgical shelters are nasty, or if you suspect surgerical areas are not sterile, complain to the state. The health department will inspect the premises, issue a citation warning the offender to clean up, & re-inspect to be sure the clean-up has been done. If it hasn't, they can call in the attorney general. The best cure for sanitary problems is publicity: In addition to the state health department, call the nearest tv station, the SPCA (but don't expect too much from them, they always work through "local" enforcement), the largest newspaper in your area, go to council meetings, write letters, contact HSUS (Humane Society of the US). I've visited a number of spay/neuter clinics as well as a number of shelters, & the *clinics* have all been clean. The shelters vary. The older the shelter, the more likely it's overburdened, overcrowded, understaffed & underfunded. Those are the ones I'd like to see staffed & funded better & eventually replaced by more modern ones.

I will admit first that I don't understand it at all, but in my opinion it is the start of phasing out soc sec. I hear a lot about preparing for your own retirement and many are confident they can do it. BUT they can't count on even it being there. The good thing about Soc Sec is that it can't be taken away from you if a tragedy strikes you or your family. If you or a family member needs a heart or kidney transplant you will of course dip into the retirement fund to save your loved one's life. Or if you or your wife runs a red light and cripples someone you will take a huge loss and may pay the rest of your life. That is just two examples of how you can lose your retirement. We all need to write our representatives and ask them to fight any changes in soc sec. If they run low on soc sec funds they should stop sending money out of this country until their responsibility to the citizens are taken care of. We are very comfortable, I have prepared for this time in our lives....BUT there is one unexpected problem. Alzheimer's. If my husbands has to be placed in a care home, I will be ok, but only because we have a lot of assets. Anyone with less will lose most of their savings and their income. The saving thing for us is our soc sec and my husband's pension.

Another thing that drives me bonkers about SS benefits is that if someone is receiving the benefits, but dies any time during the month, the entire month's benefit has to be paid back to the SSA. My brother, when he was dying of AIDS, received SS Disability benefits, because he was too sick to work. His benefit was deposited automatically into his checking account at the beginning of each month. He died in the afternoon on September 29 (not this year!), and the SSA insisted that the entire amount, to the penny, had to be paid back. To heck with the fact that he was alive for more than 28 days during that month and needed that money for various expenses. It made no sense to me then, and it makes no sense to me now.