Martian Chronicles and, well, quickies

First, the quickies. No, not those kind. To start with, here's my one and only political comment today. SEND HIM AWAY The Rev. Michael Pfleger should be shipped to some distant land where there's no television, no video, no electronic communications of any kind and where he can proselytize all he wants as the virtually self-named messiah. His horrendous spiel about Hillary Clinton in the same church where Jeremiah Wright let loose damaged the credibility of the entire Democratic Party, and I would bet, sent many on the fence over to the GOP side. ON OTHER TOPICS ... Due to popular demand (OK, several requests), I am revisiting a couple of issues mentioned early on. DRUG$ RXploitation continues in the United States, of course, and if you think about it, it's easy to see why. Our country foots the bill for most drug research, extraordinarily expensive television and magazine advertising that probably should be illegal and oh yes, pharmaceutical lobbying. As in, we cannot buy generics in this country for the countless drugs that are available in generics across the border. The pharmaceutical lobbies and their gazillions of dollars spent on wooing lawmakers has kept the cheaper drugs illegal here. But I have had it with RXploitation. To date, our experience with buying prescriptions drugs from Canada has saved us literally THOUSANDS of dollars in the last few months. We use Canadageneric.com which meets all the requirements AARP has set for checking out online RX suppliers across the border. Overall, Canadageneric has the best prices I've found and their service has been as advertised. Think Lipitor, Singulair, Advair and Actonel ... just to name a few generics we've bought. How about Avapro, Plavix and Astelin? All are unbelievably inexpensive in generic form from our neighbors to the North. Cipla, a giant pharmaceutical company in India, supplies many of the generics. To date, I'm very pleased to be out of the RXploitation trap. SOUND OFF/ON For anyone curious about my new hearing aid, Oticon Delta. In three words: I love it. My family loves it. I can understand what used to sound like mumbling. It's much easier for me to keep my voice modulated at a normal level and my little blue Delta has become my electronic friend. If any of you would like more info, just leave a comment or email me at myrasharon@comcast.net. REAL MARTIAN CHRONICLES Capt. Jean-Luc Picard of Starship Enterprise, Next Gen, has landed on Mars. His voice has, that is. Most of you probably kept up somewhat with the Phoenix lander last weekend, a thrilling few hours, and as promised, "seven minutes of terror," followed by huge hurrahs and no doubt lots of tears. Relief after years of planning. However, I did not hear anyone detail the contents of the glass CD-ROM the Planetary Society tucked into the Phoenix lander. That CD contains some of the best science fiction and fact ever written including works by giants including Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Poul Anderson, Ben Bova, E.R. Burroughs, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury ("Martian Chronicles," of course), Carl Sagan, to mention a few of the dozens. In fact, the disc contains "a collection of Mars artwork and classic radio shows" narrated by Stewart. Dozens of nations, hundreds of thousands of signatures and more fill the disc for future explorers from Earth and, well, from who knows where. Interested? The entire CD program notes are at http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/messages/vom_art.html. And if you've never checked out the NASA/JPL website, there are loads of Phoenix photos and even sounds from its trip down through the Martian atmosphere at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.htmlwww.nasa.gov.jpl. Have a great weekend and ... welcome to June.