Who is the mysterious Mr. Donner; + quackwatch

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• February 16, 2005 at 4:49 am #4120
  John in GR

  Member

  The question that has been hounding me is ‘Can a ski area have MDS?’. The reason I am asking is that the only Tahoe Donner in Truckee California is a small ski area.

  This past long weekend my wife Cheri, my son Jeff and I met son Peter and daughter in law Amy in Reno for area skiing. On Saturday we decided to go to Squaw Valley and passed right through Truckee Calif on the way. I noted on the map that Tahoe Donner is a ski area. I thought about mooching a meal, but decided not to try since ski areas can’t cook.

  And so Mr. Donner, or whoever you are, you escaped. Hmmmm. Maybe that was his plan, to take an alias so that goofballs like me wouldn’t come looking for a handout. Unfortunately, lunch and dinner ended up being on me, so maybe Mr. Donner’s plan was a good one.

  Oh, by the way, Tah, are you aware that there is presently a law suit underway against a prominent insurance company for relying on Quackwatch information to deny claims? The basis of the claim is the RICO (federal racketeering) statute.

  Perhaps, Tah, you need to be a little careful in your enthusiasm to endorse w/o further reasearch the wild claims found on quackwatch.

  Anyway, here are some exerpts from materials forwarded to me by my friend, Marla:

  Companies that rely on the “expertise” of Quackwatch material can
  find out about their mistake in court:

  “Quackbuster” RICO Case Heats Up…

  Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
  Friday, February 11th, 2005

  Aetna Insurance, by now, has to rue the day they ever used
  information found on quackwatch.com, and delicensed MD Stephen
  Barrett’s related group of websites, as reason to deny payment for
  services.

  Aetna is embroiled in a 370 million dollar claim against them (with
  triple damages for RICO) in a Federal Court Racketeering (RICO)
  lawsuit with Cavitat (Cavitat v. Aetna). Aetna has made four
  attempts to get the case dismissed – and all have failed, and one
  attempt to get the case transferred to another Court in another
  State – to no avail.

  Just the other day Aetna attorneys tried another delay, trying to
  subpoena Cavitat users – and the Court shot them down again.
  Aetna has been required, of late, to show all of the reasons why they
  would use quackwatch.com, et al, as a resource – and their answers
  are, at best, lame.

  Because of abuses of the law in the 1980s, RICO (racketeering) cases
  are very hard to get through the Federal Court system. Getting
  through the early days of a RICO complaint are the hardest, for the
  Courts, unlike in regular litigation, force the Plaintiff to “make
  their case” up front. Cavitat has more than survived the early days –
  and the case is underway.

  Expect a lot more activity in the near future. Some of our favorite
  names in “quackbusting” will soon get legal papers.

  Stay tuned…
  Tim Bolen – Consumer Advocate

  Have a great week–especially you, Tah.

  John in GR

  February 16, 2005 at 6:43 am #4121
  tahoedonner

  Member

  John….sorry we didn’t meet up in Truckee!

  You shouldn’t have just gone through. Truckee is a gem that you should have explored….you could have taken me to lunch at O’B’s or any one of our other great restaurants.

  Squaw is for tourists. Lake Tahoe (we call it “the other lake” as opposed to our greater but less well known Donner Lake) also has great places to eat and stay.

  The Donner Party spent a not so great winter up here in 1857…the food wasn’t quite up to OB’s. I heard that there is a Donner Party Cook book “How to Serve Your Fellow Man” but I have not yet been able to locate a copy.

  Tahoe Donner is for real! We have only 6,000 homes, mostly vacation places with a mid price of only $500,000 or so….a real bargain in this area! We do have a family type down hill slope, a world class cross country ski area, equestrian complex, beach complex on Donner Lake, health spa etc. We now have about 10′ of snow in our front yard so can’t quite understand why whusses back East of Nevada are complaining about a mere foot or so!

  I see that Quackwatch.com is still up and running. I checked it out only once or twice and found it most helpful. I still believe that it offers some very good cautionary advice that one should consider when contemplating the use of the weird stuff.

  No, Tahoe Donner does not have MDS…unless you mean
  ” Mountain Desirability Syndrome” but I most certainly do.

  My numbers are dropping so it seems that the remission that I had was brief. I still plan to stick with palliative care. Up here in Truckee we are pretty close to Heaven so the change shouldn’t be too drastic when the time comes!

  February 16, 2005 at 1:19 pm #4122
  John in GR

  Member

  The Donner party was near starvation during the winter of 1857?? Nice cookbook title, big guy. I guess I should have rooted around until I found you. I’m convinced we would have had some fun at lunch. It might have gotten ugly, however, when the tab came around.

  I agree that Truckee seems like a beautiful area. The weather’s a bit on the mild side, however. I guess that’s where the wusses went who couldn’t handle Michigan.

  We skied Heavenly, Squaw Valley and Mt Rose. Mt Rose recently opened a bunch of double black chutes. My kids once again tried to kill off the old man on the nasty runs, but once again, thankfully, they didn’t quite succeed.

  I’m sorry to hear your numbers are dropping. Since it is your decision to avoid conventional treatment other than palliative care, why not try approaches w only good side effects, which is what I have done?? What do you have to lose? I certainly have not regretted my decisions. Open your mind up, my friend. Consider. Time to think outside of the box???? If you don’t want to try the weirder stuff, get yourself a Greenstar juicer and go after the veggie juice to add to your regular diet. Hallelujah Acres has some good stuff on that, although I do agree w Dr. Gonzalez that those w blood disorders generally need red meat.

  John

  PS I like your play on MDS. I’ve always been very fond of the mountains.

  February 17, 2005 at 12:32 am #4123
  Terri

  Member

  Hi John, Good to hear from you and that you are still doing well. Bob is holding is own I am so grateful. We are continuing the alternative and the conventional. It all scares the dickens out of me. Glad you are still doing well.

  February 17, 2005 at 8:16 pm #4124
  B. Greene

  Member

  Hey John, the mystery man is a politician and a democract. Maybe that will help you flush him out on your next trip. And, I will buy you both lunch if you will give us a play by play. It would be good for a chuckle I bet.

  Barbra

  February 17, 2005 at 8:40 pm #4125
  geebeebee

  Member

  Barbra, now you’ve intrigued me!! Being a “demo” myself (although a frustrated one), I’m curious now!!

  Hope you guys are doing OK,

  Greg

  February 19, 2005 at 4:05 am #4126
  John in GR

  Member

  Well, well,

  I was sort of suspecting the worst of Tah. A Democrat and a politician??????? Tah, I understand completely. If I had those two traits imbedded into my personality, I’d use an alias also.

  Do you think the mountain air has left him light headed, or is it because he lives so close to San Fran????? Holy Cow, a frightening thought just occurred to me. My third son, Peter, is just finishing off a PhD in materials engineering at Stanford. His wife, Amy, is just finishing off a law degree at Berkeley (the snakepit of socialist thought in America). Do you think either of them could end up like Tah????????? I gotta get them out of there. Yikes. Horrors. Tah, if you have even one ounce of decency in that body and mind now ravaged by liberalism, can you help?? Don’t let future generations follow you down the road to oblivion.

  Ah, it’s probably no use.

  Could it be that the mysterious Mr. Donner is really Gray Davis????? hmmm. Last name of both starts w a D. hmmmm.

  BTW Tah, what did you think of your good governor’s speech at the Republican National Convention????? And what did you think of the Iraqi vote turnout???

  Have a great day.

  John Hess from Grand Rapids (I’m in the phone book)

  February 20, 2005 at 12:53 am #4127
  tahoedonner

  Member

  John….Glad you made it into the Grand Rapids phone book! I hear that it’s just about the only book that folks back in Grand Rapids read.

  Conni Rice’s Stanford and Biserkly! What a combo….must be interestng on Big Game Day. Glad they came to Californis where they can get a decent education. Do you realize that if they return to Michigan after their schooling here in California, they will no doubt raise the average IQ of two states? Quite an accomplishment!

  I don’t believe that Gov. Davis has MDS. You must have been thinking of our late great congressman Robert Matsui who recently died of its complications. A real loss!

  What do I think about the Iraqi election? It sure turned out a lot better than ours! I hope that our country can survive until President H. Clinton and VP Barbara Boxer get elected! Hope we are out of Iraq by then and that not too many more Americans are needlessly killed .

  Take care and try to keep warm back there ….are the “grand rapids” frozen solid?

  February 21, 2005 at 3:13 am #4128
  John in GR

  Member

  Tah,

  I think you just shortened my life. Choke. gag. uggh. barf etcetc. Hillary and Barbara Boxer. I don’t want to live to see it.

  The Grand River rapids are not frozen over.

  Peter is still a strong U Michigan fan. You see, Tah, us conservative midwesterners tend to be a loyal bunch. We make decisions based on conscience not on polls. We are often friendly with our neighbors, and rather than thinking that the government shoulder the responsibility for for the weak, think that the individuals ought to do it. We think that social welfare systems should be used very judiciously to avoid devaluation of the recipients.

  Some of us,Tah, can even speak and write in complete sentences. We accept that there are absolutes, from which we gain direction.

  BTW there was a breakfast place down in S. Tahoe called The Little Red Hut (as I recall). Is it still there??

  You do live in a beautiful corner of God’s creation.

  Have a great day.

  John

  February 21, 2005 at 6:47 am #4129
  tahoedonner

  Member

  John….

  There is a great very small place, “The Little Red Hen” in Colefax, just a few miles above Auburn. It is very funky but has great breakfasts and an assortment of very interesting “regulars”. Also check out “Awful Annie’s” in Auburn which is much better by far or, our favorite, Rainbow Inn, on the way down the hill.

  Another hint…I voted to give Barbara Boxer her first official political job as a personnel commissioner for the board on which I still serve forty two years later….this is getting much too easy!

  I thought that the Clinton/ Boxer thing well might get to you, but I just couldn’t resist….sorry about that! That ticket is probably the only one that would force me to vote for the Rice/Rumplstiltson ticket (or whatever the misguided might come up with).

  Pleased to hear that the falls are not frozen…is the view for a trip back East of Nevada worth the effort?

  We are supposed to be talking about MDS , so I have to add something…..I am taking President’s Day, well, at least Democratic Presidents’ Day, off and saying the Hell with MDS for the day!

  Best wishes and try to keep warm!

  TD

  February 21, 2005 at 4:31 pm #4130
  Bob P

  Member

  John in GR, & Tahoe,
  I must thank you both for you little feud. This forum is always filled with blood counts and mostly unhappy things that are happening to people with this MDS. You two have given us a bit of a comic break.

  Bob…

  February 21, 2005 at 4:45 pm #4131
  shirlsgirl

  Member

  Hello gentlemen,

  I agree with Bob, you crack me up!!

  Jody

  February 21, 2005 at 7:56 pm #4132
  Naomi

  Member

  I, also, am enjoying the running commentary between you two. It has given me some well needed chuckles.
  Hope you can keep it up.
  Please NO Hillary.
  Naomi

  February 21, 2005 at 11:57 pm #4133
  KATHY1

  Member

  I too am getting a kick out of this. I have to admit though, I’m still trying to figure out what’s going on. Two added comments “To Serve Man”-wasn’t that the name of the cookbook in a Twilight Zone episode? and God help us if Hillary ever becomes president aaaaagh!

  Kathy

  February 22, 2005 at 7:12 am #4134
  tahoedonner

  Member

  Kathy….

  You caught the irony….Carl Sagan was the guy behind Twilight Zone and he died of MDS!

  My take-off on ” How to Serve your Fellow Man” re the Donner party, I hoped would be better recognized. Perhaps it’s not in the Grand Rapids Phone Book ( please don’t ask me to explain that one!)

  TD

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