Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Had nothing on this afternoon's hijinks.  My landlady, someone else and I were getting ready to play Gin Rummy.  As we were getting everything ready, I heard a speeding car and then a very  loud crash.  As in the fall doesn't kill you, it's the sudden stop at the end.  I raced to the door, saw that the accident was really bad and started telling people to call 911.  Nobody responded instantly so I went inside and used the landlady's landline and spoke to the second dumbest operator I've ever had the misfortune to interact with.

I told her about the accident, that we needed an ambulance ASAP,  gave her the address and  tried to get off the phone so I could go help.  She told me to calm down, give her my name and wanted to ask me more questions.  I gave her my name, spelled it for her and then told her I had to go because I was the only one around with medical training and the driver probably didn't have time to wait and then I hung up on her.

I ran across the street just in time to stop some guys from moving the injured person from his seat.  The airbag had deployed and there was blood everywhere.  The windshield was shattered and the  rear end of a parked flatbed truck was occupying the aforementioned space and it had just grazed the driver.  Probably because he had his head down and to the right looking for something instead of driving.  Like the first paramedic said, it was a miracle the driver wasn't killed.

I asked the driver some questions and determined that he had hurt his neck and I was pretty sure he had a compound fracture of the leg.  He kept mumbling something about he shouldn't be here and that wasn't supposed to happen.  I told him that's why they call them accidents.  I held him in place and had him concentrate on his breathing to calm him down.  And yes, his legs had sustained some damage, they stripped him bare before strapping him to a board to put him on the gurney.

After the cops had most of the stuff under control (it took almost an hour to pry the Ford mini SUV from the truck) we went back to our game.  One of the ladies was having hot flashes and had turned on the ceiling fan.  The landlady put up with it for a while and asked her to turn it off.  Menopause Patty yanked on the chain so hard that she broke it and it was stuck in fast mode.  Even though I'm terrified of heights I climbed on the table, turned off the fan at the source and reconnected the chain.

We managed to play almost a round and then the electricity went off in the neighborhood.  For about an hour and a half.  We kept on playing and when we were almost done, in comes another tow truck for the Vietnamese lady from down the street.  Her car was missing the right front end.   Her husband drinks too much and takes it out on her, so we all knew it couldn't be a good thing.

The electricity came on and we wrapped up the game, but then I had to go do a Mystery Shopping job at the movies.  I completed the task and came home and relaxed at L's house for about an hour and then went home.  I was getting ready for bed and heard a diesel engine.  Being the nosy curious type I looked out the window to see the firetruck leave and one of our drama queens was in the back of the ambulance.

What a wild night, I just heard a group of motorcyclists blaze past a little faster than the speed limit just like all the people did after they passed the accident.  Wouldn't you want to drive slower so that you don't make the same kind of mistake?

Mom is asleep and has missed all the excitement.   This day has kicked my ass, I think I'll take myself off to bed and hope that the bedbugs don't bite.  Or that we don't have an earthquake.

BBB

Baghdad: City Of Walls

By way of the Guardian.  You will never see this on American television.  It isn't entertainment, it's reality.  The reality of living in Baghdad after years of war.  First you can't get around.



The graves of those who were killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the wrong religion, the wrong whatever.



And then there are the children.  The true innocents and the ones who are paying the highest price. The orphans being recruited to continue the terror that was visited upon them. By us.



What have we done?

BBB

Sinking Like A Stone

For now is the operative phrase since this is probably the tip of the iceberg.  More banks are going to fail, we're already starting to print more money and the crew without a clue has bailed out everyone except the little people who were encouraged to buy the homes they couldn't afford and those who had their money in the failing banks.  Begging is about to become an honorable profession.

Disgusting.  And for fifty years.  Wow, remind me to never go to Zanesville, Ohio.   The city can appeal all they want, but when a white neighbor has running water with a hot tub and his black neighbors have to buy water from a treatment plant and have it delivered or collect rainwater to do laundry even though they live next to the municipal water pipes, that's discrimination.  By anyone's standards.  Or at least normal people's standards.

You don't say.

"It's a pain in the neck, and significantly interferes with my travel arrangements," said Robinson, the head of the Justice Department's criminal division during the Clinton administration. He believes his name matches that of someone who was put on the list in early 2005, and is routinely delayed while flying — despite having his own government top-secret security clearances renewed last year. "I suppose if I were convinced that America is a safer place because I get hassled at the airport, I might put up with it," Robinson said. "But I doubt it."

He added: "I expect my story is similar to hundreds of thousands of people who are on this list who find themselves inconvenienced."

Bush could be flat-lined and the Demowienies would still roll over and play dead.

The United States is lagging behind in science graduates.  Gee, I wonder why.  Could it be because after many years of rigorous schooling they discover that they will earn less today than they did yesterday?  Bush and the magic veto pen strike again.  Pretty soon even the rich won't want to be doctors, they won't be able to adjust to a lower class of living.  Besides the hassle of trying to learn science while school districts start teaching the not-so-intelligent design theory and refusing to allow independent thought, there are very few models that have both fame and fortune.  Geeks are popular today, but that doesn't mean that everyone wants to be one.

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Thursday Morning Ramblings

George Bush doesn't care about wet people. Sad and funny, but still true.

It's all about the Benjamins, which is about what it takes to fill my car. At the moment. I would rather see more public transportation options and smaller cars that get better gas mileage than see a string of oil derricks surrounding the coasts. But then I live in California, not Florida. Heaven forbid that we learn to conserve, that we walk a mile or two to get groceries or other items (which would make us skinnier and healthier as an extra benefit), or that we recycle instead of using things once and throwing them away. Nope, its much better to spend money on destroying the environment in a useless effort to stave off the inevitable so the oil companies can have more profits. As if they weren't already obscene as it is. How about they lower the price of gas themselves and take a little less profit? Now that's California Dreamin.

Good tips for eating healthy on a budget.

The election is like watching a slow motion train wreck. You know it's going to end badly, but you just can't stop watching.

America is rapidly becoming irrelevant.

Flip-flopping is becoming a Democratic condition. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. And it might not be in the form you had envisioned.

Okay to discriminate against women in the workplace, not okay to discriminate against people over forty. Sometimes the Supreme Court almost baffles me. I wonder who didn't vote.

The Demowienies cave. Again.

Wednesday Wanderings

I quit reading MoDo almost two years ago. I used to really like her, but her schtick never changes. For years she has hated the Clintons, now she has decided to go after Michelle Obama. A woman I do not like, but in no way does she deserve violence. Real or implied. When I clicked on the link, Mincing up Michelle, I was hoping it was going to be about Malkin. Instead it turned out to be a hatchet job on Michelle Obama. Turns out I wasn't the only one disgusted with the title, or the author. Unlike some other brave souls, I wasn't tempted to read it. She used to be funny, now she's just the wicked witch of the east. Where's Dorothy when you need her? Since MoDo can't resist painful strategies.

When I was married we lived in a tiny town called Reutti, which was a little southeast of Neu-Ulm in Germany. It was really cool. Out our living room window we could see a castle in the distance and in the fourteen months we lived there, there was only one light we could ever see, the rest of the castle was always dark. Across a field was a farm with real animals. So cool. The fact that the grocery store was on the other side never bothered me. It had killer cold cuts, wonderful breads and cheeses and lettuce that never got crisp. Even when frozen. And the Gasthaus made some of the best spaetzle and Jagerschnitzel I've ever had. More people should visit the country.

Of course it is. And at the rate the oil companies are making obscene profits and not having to account for their actions, it will cost over $5 a gallon by the end of the summer, if not more. It already costs me $4.52. But I'm getting a bus pass and will use it as often as possible. Or until the VTA runs out of money.

I feel sorry for gay and lesbian people and not because they have a different sexual preference than mine. It's because they are always being used as pawns instead of as people who deserve the same respect as anyone else on the planet. The only time they get decent notice is just before an election and then once the candidates they support have been elected, they're ignored until the next time they're needed.

Do you know your Walkscore? It lets you know about restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacies, etc. that are within walking distance of your address. Too bad there are only 7-Elevens and Starbuck's (3!) within walking distance. Fresh vegetables and meat are out of the question, they're nine miles away.

BBB