Hello to the Prairies!

Okay, I'll admit it: before this week I knew very little about Canada's fair province of Saskatchewan. I heard a few Moose Jaw tales an old boyfriend would tell me over the phone when he was living there. I can tell you what sport the Roughriders play, name the capital and three or four of the larger cities, tell you that the license plates read, "Land of Living Skies," but my actual Saskatchewan knowledge is...well, let's face it - non-existent. I'm an island girl, what can I say?

But, lo' and behold, Saskatchewan's premier, Brad Wall, has been changing my take. I'm seeing Saskatchewan in a whole new light! Premier Wall announced this week that his province will fund Canada's first clinical trials of CCSVI therapy and is urging fellow premiers to follow suit.

Now if only we could get the federal government to take some action rather than sit at endless roundtable discussions. Where are you, Health Minister Aglukkaq?

Great deal for a low, low, price!

It's happening already.

As predicted, punching "CCSVI" into major search engines now turns up ads for "Liberation packages" that promise no wait and all-inclusive fees. This is one of the things that worries me the most about all of this news and research - the woodwork organizations - whether or not people seeking real relief will be able to wade through false claims and to-good-to-be-true deals. Who can tell what's legitimate?

I question my own "wait and see" approach sometimes, but I'm sure as hell not ready to travel all the way across this blue marble to have surgery in a place where I don't speak the language. I applaud the people willing to take those leaps for a shot at bettering their lives, but I'm not about to plan an operation around Google Adsense.

On a distantly related note, try out the duckduckgo.com search engine! It's made by a fellow redditor and gives pretty good (untracked!) results.