Help for a friend (need orthopedic surgeon or neurosurgeon opinion)

by Rossputin | 10:13 am, April 6, 2013

Hello all,

I’m always reticent to use these pages for appeals for assistance, but a friend of mine could use some professional advice that I’m not qualified to give and I’m hoping that someone reading this pages can be of direct or indirect help.

My friend is a Denver-area policeman, and a former commando in the Royal Marines.

He moved to the United States with his family, loves this country, and hoped to make his future here.

He was injured while on duty and suffered a jarring, twisting injury to his head and neck which has apparently caused disc dislocation/damage and perhaps other damage that I don’t fully understand. The disc is now pressing on a nerve which is causing him to lose his grip in his right hand. Losing his grip will end his career as a police officer and, obviously, dramatically limit any future employment opportunities.

He is not a wealthy man.

As it stands, he fears losing his career, his home, and his ability to stay in the United States.

He feels that local officials, the insurance company, and the workman’s comp system are treating him very shabbily, and he doesn’t trust their advice, whether medical or otherwise. So far, based on advice from an overseas friend of his who is a doctor, he has refused spinal fusion surgery. He also refused cortisone injections because when it was suggested to him was just when the news was coming out about the contaminated steroid injections causing meningitis.

If you are, or if you know, an orthopedic surgeon or neurosurgeon or other qualified doctor who would be willing to see my friend and give him expert advice based on a basic examination (I’m not sure if he has imaging available to show), at little or no cost, I would be very grateful.

Please get in touch with me at rossputin(at)rossputin(dot)com if you might be able to offer any assistance.

Tribute for General Jim Hall, Sunday, March 24 in Denver

by Rossputin | 6:29 pm, March 16, 2013

I hope you’ll consider attending the tribute for General Jim Hall on Sunday, March 24 from 5 PM to 7:30 PM at the Glenmoor Country Club in Cherry Hills Village. Congressman Mike Coffman will also be attending.

More info HERE…and below:

Entertainment will be provided by Anthony Kearns, one of the world’s leading tenors, who is making a special appearance in Denver at General Hall’s request at the height of the “Irish season” (since Anthony is Irish through and through.)

There will also be an exclusive preview of the general’s parachuting display which will then move to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

The event is to benefit the general’s son, Eagle Hall, who has special needs, particularly to allow him to continue to participate in the Special Olympics.

To learn more about the event, guests can call (720) 675-7056. Guests must RSVP to RSVPMarch24Tribute@gmail.com by Wednesday, March 20. Reservations are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets are $35, or $50, with the $50 option including a signed copy of my book, “Parachuting for Gold in Old Mexico.”  Checks made payable to “Glenmoor Country Club” and sent to Andi Allott per the instructions in the invitation form which you can find here:
http://fedewaconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Gen-Hall-Tribute-Invitation_March24.pdf

The event will feature an Irish-themed menu with Irish signature drinks at the bar (it is a cash bar). There will also be delicious Irish coffee after the program and a meet-and-greet with special guests.

A little more about General Jim Hall:

Throughout his 36 years of military service and in his civilian life, General Jim Hall became a pioneer in the field of  parachuting. A Master Parachutist with more than 1,800 jumps, he created the premier parachuting program for the U.S. Air Force Academy, which now trains 600 cadets annually and ranks first in the world. In addition, he created the “Buddy System” for free falling and the “4-line cut” for parachuting emergencies. In 1959, Hall and a partner founded the first professional parachuting firm ever. As Col. John Buckley said, “Almost every parachute development done for the USAFA in the first 30 years came from General Hall… he truly was a USAF pioneer…” General Hall’s developments saved lives and therefore, pilots everywhere owe General Hall for his contributions. 

Gen. Hall has been honored numerous times, including receiving The Leo Stevens Parachute Medal (the highest award given annually for achievements in the field of parachuting) and the Colorado Meritorious Service Medal (the highest award that the state of Colorado can award to a member of the military). Learn more at: http://parachutingassociates.com/Pages/AboutJim.php

Wilderness and Emergency First Aid Training and Family Firearms Safety classes at Blucore Shooting Center

by Rossputin | 4:23 pm, March 3, 2013

On the evenings of Monday and Tuesday, March 18th and 19th, from 6 PM to 9 PM, Blucore Shooting Center is offering a 2-night course in Wilderness and Emergency First Aid, taught by a former Green Beret medic who served multiple combat tours.

The course will be taught partly indoors and partly outdoors (regardless of the weather.)

I’ll be there, because I enjoy hiking, camping, and generally want to be able to help should I encouter an emergency medical situation involving myself or others.

I hope you’ll join me.

More info here:
http://www.blucoreshootingcenter.com/p-66482-wilderness-and-emergency-first-aid.aspx

You can sign up online, or give Blucore a call at 303 988 5587.

As Blucore is a sponsor of my radio show on 850 KOA, I’d be grateful if you tell them you heard about the class from me.

I  hope to see you there!

Also, for those interested in teaching your children (7 or older) about gun safety, Blucore is offering a Family Firearms Safety course. It’s just two hours long, from 6 PM to 8 PM on Tuesday, March 5th. It’s $50 for one person, but only $100 for 2, 3, or 4 people.

More here: http://www.blucoreshootingcenter.com/p-64124-family-firearms-safety.aspx

Again, thanks for supporting a great organization…which I am grateful to for supporting me.

RGK

Deep Thoughts

by Rossputin | 4:46 pm, February 13, 2013

A little irony: Last night, while much of America was watching Barack Obama spew his usual statist drivel, I was at the Pepsi Center watching The Who in concert, hearing Roger Daltry sing “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

A little stupidity: I ordered some Valentines Day flowers from the web site of 1-800-Flowers. Today I got a message from UPS that the flowers were damaged in transit. (I was going to have them delivered today so they’d be at my house in the morning.) I wanted to call the people I ordered from to discuss options, so I did a Google search for “1800 flowers” to find their phone number. (As if that’s not dumb enough, the Google search result was not 1-800-FLOWERS. But at least I was smart enough to dial that anyway.)

2013 Leadership Program of the Rockies Annual Retreat

by Rossputin | 9:47 am, February 4, 2013

The Leadership Program of the Rockies Annual Retreat, which I’ll be attending for the 8th year in a row in late February at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, is always one of the highlights of my year. Full of lovers of liberty, and packed full of some of the most interesting speakers you’ll ever hear (if you’re interested in politics, and especially if you have a conservative/libertarian pro-free market viewpoint), this year’s event promises to be another great one. And the hotel is so fantastic, that even non-political spouses love the event.

The keynote speaker for the Friday night dinner will be Fox News reporter and libertarian champion John Stossel. Other great speakers (see regularly-updated list here) will include Bill Whittle, Mia Love, Yaron Brook, and – the person I’m most looking forward to hearing – DC Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Janice Rogers Brown, whom I’ve written about several times as one of the best (most principled) judges in America. If the Saturday lunch speaker is who I think it is, that will be fantastic, too, but I don’t have official confirmation yet, so I won’t say who I think it is.

Click here or on the picture below to open the printable PDF file with information about Retreat attendance, or learn more and register online here. The sooner you book, the better your chances of getting one of the block of discounted rooms.

The 2011 retreat, one of the best so far, featured Charles Krauthammer as the dinner’s keynote speaker, along with a raft of other great people addressing the crowd on politics, economics, and foreign policy.

You can see highlights of the 2011 Retreat here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–HCSs8-KXw

This year’s Retreat will be held on Friday and Saturday, February 22nd and 23rd, at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, and LPR has an incredible discounted room rate available for Retreat attendees. Just ask for the Leadership Program rate when you call hotel reservations at (866) 837-9520.

It’s likely that this year’s event will be sold out, so please book soon.

As always, there will be a VIP reception – at which you’ll be able to say hello to John Stossel and other speakers and have your photo taken with Stossel – available to those who purchase a package which includes it. The number of attendees permitted at the VIP reception is limited in order to maintain a true “VIP” feeling about that part of the event.

Again, information about Retreat packages can be found HERE. And if you want a paper/pdf version, to fax or mail, or an easy way to see all the package choices, click HERE.

I hope to see you at this great event. You’ll be telling your friends for months afterwards how much fun you had, how much you learned, and how many interesting people you met. So again, please visit the LPR Retreat web page to get more information and register!

http://www.leadershipprogramretreat.com/

Advantage Futures (FCM / Futures Clearing firm)

by Rossputin | 7:50 am, November 5, 2012

It’s rare that I’m happy enough with a company I work with that I think of offering them an endorsement on these pages.

As a professional trader, the quality of my clearing firm, perhaps even more in the area of technical support than in the area of customer service (though the latter is also quite important), is a major factor in my ability to make a living – or at least my ability to make a fair attempt at making a living.

I signed on with Advantage Futures after doing some online research (my career having been more in options trading than futures trading so I had some homework to do), with a particular focus on finding an FCM where I could use the particular trading software that I want to use. Since the software is server-based with the servers managed by the clearing firm, I was limited to the handful of firms that have that capability, but that’s fine because those firms are likely to be better in other areas as well given the infrastructure needed to support customers like me.

For traders with less demanding technology needs, Advantage has plenty of other software solutions, along with very fast access to all the major US futures markets, and some key foreign markets as well.

When I’ve had technology issues, they’ve responded quickly and professionally, including through their 24-hour tech help desk – a fairly remarkable feature for an FCM.

Their commissions are better than average, and damn cheap for the quality of their tech infrastructure. (To be clear, if you are going to host your trading software on one of their servers, there is an additional modest charge for use of the shared server, but unless you need a dedicated server it is still much cheaper than a dedicated solution.)

If you’re looking for a futures broker, I can (and do) offer my reccomendation (which was not requested by Advantage) to Advantage Futures.

My customer service representative, in the Professional Traders Group at Advantage is Jason Yoo, whom you can reach directly if you’re looking to open a futures clearing account, at (312) 347-4932 or by e-mail at jyoo(at)advantagefutures(dot)com

Advantage Futures (FCM / Futures Clearing firm)

by Rossputin | 7:50 am, November 5, 2012

It’s rare that I’m happy enough with a company I work with that I think of offering them an endorsement on these pages.

As a professional trader, the quality of my clearing firm, perhaps even more in the area of technical support than in the area of customer service (though the latter is also quite important), is a major factor in my ability to make a living – or at least my ability to make a fair attempt at making a living.

I signed on with Advantage Futures after doing some online research (my career having been more in options trading than futures trading so I had some homework to do), with a particular focus on finding an FCM where I could use the particular trading software that I want to use. Since the software is server-based with the servers managed by the clearing firm, I was limited to the handful of firms that have that capability, but that’s fine because those firms are likely to be better in other areas as well given the infrastructure needed to support customers like me.

For traders with less demanding technology needs, Advantage has plenty of other software solutions, along with very fast access to all the major US futures markets, and some key foreign markets as well.

When I’ve had technology issues, they’ve responded quickly and professionally, including through their 24-hour tech help desk – a fairly remarkable feature for an FCM.

Their commissions are better than average, and damn cheap for the quality of their tech infrastructure. (To be clear, if you are going to host your trading software on one of their servers, there is an additional modest charge for use of the shared server, but unless you need a dedicated server it is still much cheaper than a dedicated solution.)

If you’re looking for a futures broker, I can (and do) offer my reccomendation (which was not requested by Advantage) to Advantage Futures.

My customer service representative, in the Professional Traders Group at Advantage is Jason Yoo, whom you can reach directly if you’re looking to open a futures clearing account, at (312) 347-4932 or by e-mail at jyoo(at)advantagefutures(dot)com

Welcome to 2012

by Rossputin | 9:00 am, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year to all my friends and readers.

I expect 2012 will be one of the most interesting years in a long time, perhaps interesting in the sense of the well-known Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times.”

One thing is for sure: We’ll have a lot to talk about.

I wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2012.

Ross

Merry Christmas (from your Jewish blogger)

by Rossputin | 9:31 am, December 25, 2011

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and offer the following thoughts made more profoundly by Kyle Broflovski than I ever could:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4s5MMLN_NY

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