If They Only Had A Brain

Tea Party activists and the GOP have already shown that they don't have a heart and the only courage they display is when they are in mob mode and feel they can spit on people without repercussion.

Why are the teabaggers so scared of a single payer system?  Or any system other than the one we have now.?  The VA health care I'm receiving is better than mom's Medicare.  Whenever I go to the VA, my ID card is swiped once and I am checked in for everything and seamlessly move from one department to another.  My records are computerized and every provider has access to the whole chart and the departments work together to provide the best possible service.  Heck, I even have access to part of my records and the IT guys are working to make the rest of it available to me by the end of the year.  I order my drug refills via the web and a few days later they arrive in the mail.  Soon I'll be able to see lab results.  What's not to like?

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about my health and the experience I was having with the VA system.  I cannot emphasize enough how well taken care of I feel. Last Tuesday (3/23) I reported to the surgical unit for a D and C.  My check in time was 12 noon.  I met the surgeon one more time and since I had completed my pre-op testing a few days before, we were ready to roll.  I signed the final consent form and was led into the patient preparation area.  There I met the anesthesiologist and the nurse who would be shepherding me from place to place.

We were having a discussion about what I would use for pain management and the next thing I knew I was wide awake and the procedure was completed.  My doctor came in to tell me that everything looked good and barring anything untoward in the pathology report, I would be a good candidate for a new way of removing fibroids and that I wouldn't have to have a hysterectomy.  Then they called my ride while I got dressed and by 3:30 pm I was home and in my own bed resting up.

The only bad part of my experience was coming home and reading the garbage the GOP was using to whip the masses into out of control mobs.  The lies were unbelievable, unless you were an uneducated teabagger. or enjoy waiting weeks for authorizations from some clerk whose job is to increase corporate profits instead of ensuring that you receive the best health care possible.  I've had a couple of surgeries in my life and I can honestly say that this last one was the most professional and comfortable one I have ever had.  I go back on the 31st for a follow up and then it's on to the next problem.  My neck.

I missed a phone call from the nurse in neurology who said she noticed that I have an appointment on April 1st at one o'clock and would it be okay if she scheduled my EMG test for twelve o'clock on the same day.  I called her back and said that would be perfectly okay with me.

I honestly don't like the health care bill, but it is better than the alternative for 32 million people, which is nothing.  I believe a single payer system would benefit everyone, from the patient to the doctor and the labs in between.   Everyone except the insurance companies.  You would think that everyone would want the experience that I and other veterans I know have had.  But, you would have to have a brain.

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This Is What Happens When You Don't Have Health Insurance

I am a single woman who ran her own business for almost 17 years.  It was a small business but it kept the roof over my head and food in the tummy.  And that's about it.  I applied to several insurance companies for coverage and was turned down to preexisting conditions.  There was one HMO that was willing to cover me but it was only for catastrophic care and it cost more than the rent for my office.  I ended up receiving health care by way of the emergency room.

This was okay in my thirties and forties, not so good for my fifties.  Then I moved to Reno and one of the guys at the dog park told me that I would probably be able to receive care from the VA.  I checked, and lo and behold, I was eligible.  Serving my country was finally worth something other than the pride I felt wearing the uniform.

The morning before you see your doctor for the first time you show up at the lab and they draw blood and urine samples.  The doctor has the results before you see him and is prepared to discuss with you your symptoms and ailments.  I left the VA that afternoon with blood pressure medicine, a new type of asthma inhaler and thyroid replacement hormone.  Nothing for pain as I am allergic to almost everything except Demerol.

Last week I had low back pain that was radiating down my legs and up my back and the on call nurse suggested that I come into the emergency room because it was becoming hard for me to breathe.  It was about ten pm and there were only a few people there and none of them were in the waiting room.  They immediately took me into a room and started an EKG.  My heart was okay but my breathing wasn't so they gave me an asthma treatment right away.  Then they sent me for X-rays for my low back.

My doctor called the next day with the results and prescribed a muscle relaxer to help reduce the pain and increase movement and asked me to make an appointment. Before I even saw him the nurse gave me my H1N1 and pneumonia shots. Then the doctor scheduled MRIs for my low back and neck.

The VA has a new program that directly targets female veterans and as I left his office they snatched me up, did an intake and performed all those girl specific tests.  That doctor suggested that I get an ultrasound and abdominal CAT scan.

All test were performed this Wednesday and Thursday.  The MRIs were first and my doctor called me that afternoon with the results.  There is some impingement in the low back, but the neck is a crisis area.  According to the MRI there is very little spinal fluid from C5 down and very little space for the nerves to pass through comfortably which is why my hands go to sleep whenever I type or hold something as small as a book.  He suggested that I immediately go get a cervical collar while I waited for an appointment with a neurologist.

The CAT scans and ultrasound were performed on Thursday and even I could tell there was something wrong from just looking at the monitors.  Although my mammogram and Pap smear were normal, the rest of the girlie parts aren't and they are inhibiting the function of other organs in the abdomen.  I had surgery in that area in 1990 and it looks like they will have to perform another one to remove said girlie parts.  Oh joy.

All of this could have been prevented if I had had medical coverage.  Now everything is at a crisis level that can only be addressed by surgery.  As an acupuncturist I am offended because most of this could have been avoided with preventative health care and as a patient I am uncomfortable with the possible outcomes.  As I used to tell my patients, waiting until you are thirsty to dig a well is not efficient.  Or smart.

American health care is always touted as the best in the world, but that only applies if you can afford it.  If you can't, then you are reduced to using the emergency room which is much more expensive than preventative care.  Luckily, I happen to be a veteran and will have health care for the rest of my life unless the GOP gets its way and starts eliminating services for veterans like they did under Reagan.

America has become so polarized that individuals and their needs are being lost in the "debate".  A single payer system would be the best option for the people, but not for the insurance companies that like to hike premiums whenever they want and on whoever they want and then deny needed services until the patient dies or gives up.  Meanwhile the GOP distorts the truth and inflames their base by inventing bogeymen and blaming everything except global warming on those who are not melanin impaired and innocent people are dying due to lack of services.  How is that the best in the world?

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Saturday Morning Observations

Supposedly the first thing you should do when you find yourself in a hole is to quit digging.  Unfortunately for the Republican party, their goal seems to be China.  Not content to be the minority party they are now trying to be the minuscule party.  The dittoheads and Palinites want to purge the party of those who don't believe exactly as they do.  If this means getting rid of people who are already serving in office, well, so be it.  To the teabaggers it is better to have nothing than it is to appeal to more citizens or to be relevant.

Josef Stalin was also extremely fond of purging and millions of people died because of it.  Funny thing is he started with his own party and as his paranoia grew, so did the circle of people he considered to be disloyal.  Eventually generals and peasants alike were purged and Big Brother was officially born.

But the impetus to "cleanse" the social body rapidly spilled beyond these elite boundaries, and the greatest impact of the Purge was felt in the wider society -- where millions of ordinary Soviet citizens assisted in "unmasking" their compatriots. Frank Smitha describes this mass hysteria well, writing that

A society that is intense in its struggle for change has a flip side to its idealism: intolerance. People saw enemies everywhere, enemies who wanted to destroy the revolution and diminish the results of their hard work and accomplishments, enemies who wanted to restore capitalism for selfish reasons against the collective interests of the nation. If those at the top of the Communist Party and an old revolutionary like Trotsky could join the enemy, what about lesser people? In factories and offices, mass meetings were held in which people were urged to be vigilant against sabotage. It was up to common folks to make the distinction between incompetence and intentional wrecking [i.e., sabotage], and any mishap might be blamed on wrecking. Denunciations became common. Neighbors denounced neighbors. Denunciations were a good way of striking against people one did not like, including one's parents, a way of eliminating people blocking one's promotion, and ... a means of proving one's patriotism. Many realized that some innocent people were being victimized, and the saying went around that "when you chop wood the chips fly." As with Lenin, it was believed that some who were innocent would have to be victimized if all of the guilty were to be apprehended.

History is a pesky thing and while some might say that today's political purges aren't violent, calling for a revolution is one step in that direction.  Eventually an innocent person is going to die due to the intolerance now making its way through the country, but the teabaggers are so far gone that they will consider it a step in the right direction.  Returning this country to a McCarthy like existence with a 1984 mindset and 2009 technology enforcement capabilities.  Does anybody think this will end well?

Better late than never. Now that female Vietnam War veterans are in their sixties, it's time to investigate how the war affected their health.  As with men, a good guess would be, poorly.

Well, that was depressing.  Hopefully this should bring a smile to almost anyone's face.

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Insanity And Heartlessness

I'd say that Malkin is out of her mind, but that assumes she has one and you know what they say about assuming.  She does have an extremely fertile imagination and an inability to face reality which is reminiscent of most people who are off their rockers. The never right wing of the GOP would like to blame the loss of NY-23 on Dede Scozzafava when it was themselves who engineered the defeat of their party in a district that hadn't voted for a Democratic representative in 138 years.  They sabotaged the original candidate and totally forgot about the people who actually live in the district while engaging in their hate filled campaign to purge the party.  Bloodletting isn't a viable option in medicine and it doesn't look like it's that good for politics either.

Ever since Reagan broke PATCO the average joe in this country has been headed down the path to financial ruin.  Jobs have disappeared at a phenomenal rate, only to reappear in another country done by workers who are paid as little as possible.  Levis are no longer manufactured in America along with many other products that kept the American worker employed and able to purchase those same products.  Meanwhile in the lala land that exists in corporate boardrooms, much joy was to be found in their ever expanding bottom line.  Until so many Americans were out of work that products couldn't be sold and more layoffs ensued.  Homes were lost, families uprooted and gypsies were created.  Can serfdom be far behind?  40 acres and a mule sounds pretty good in comparison to what some people have now, which is nothing.

Balancing the budget on the backs of the people who can least afford it.  Then they die.  And not one Republican complained about that death panel.

Had my first appointment at the VA hospital yesterday and was more than pleasantly surprised.  I got my seasonal flu shot, had my blood work done and the longest visit I have ever had with a doctor.  I feel like I was listened to, viable suggestions were made and it didn't cost me a thing.  Except for the time I spent in the military.  My prescriptions are being mailed to me and outreach programs to increase my quality of life are available.  If I was homeless there would be even more help to get me back on my feet.  And they have an emergency room.

Speaking of emergency rooms, I had to take mom in on Sunday.  It looked like she had broken her wrist but after taking her blood pressure she was moved directly into a room.  Her EKG shows that her heartbeat is irregularly irregular and that isn't a good thing.  When she sleeps she isn't getting enough oxygen and her heartbeat goes haywire.  Her COPD is getting worse and that is accelerating her dementia.  I feel sorry for her but now it's all about the waiting.  Not a peep from either brother, am I obligated to let them know when she passes?

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Monday Morning Musings

How much more study is needed before the soldiers get the help they need?  When ten guys from one unit have been accused of murder, attempted murder, and manslaughter, maybe more study isn't needed and the next step should be admitting there is a problem and doing something to change it for the better.

Almost all those soldiers were kids, too young to buy a beer, when they volunteered for one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Almost none had serious criminal backgrounds. Many were awarded medals for good conduct.

Obviously the military brass learned nothing from the aftermath of the Vietnam War.   What these kids were asked to do time after time against a dehumanized enemy will affect them and everyone around them for the rest of their lives.  And with the loyalty that the chickenhawks don't have, these kids will be he recipients of the next "we must be tough on crime" wave and spend the rest of their lives in a physical prison to go along with the prison of their minds.

I've been a Cincinnati Reds fan for most of my life.  I started with the Big Red Machine because I had a crush on Johnny Bench and thought that Joe Morgan, Ken Griffey, Tony Perez and Dave Concepcion were the best teammates in the world.  And Tom Seaver was pretty darn cute.  For the record, I never liked Pete Rose and that had nothing to due with his abilities.  It had to do with the sneer he always seemed to have, not very attractive.  While I may not like him personally, he was a great ball player and deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.  Gambling had nothing to do with his skills or performance and he should be recognized for them.  Considering the antics of what passes for a star nowadays, maybe it's time for the Hall of Shame to be reviewed.

Cocktails!  I'm seeing something from the Star Trek Universe.  A sleek black tablet with a touchscreen and the ability to look up information, play music and relay messages sounds like a good start.

As the saying goes, if all you is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail.  One of the problems with letting everyone have guns, is that everyone has guns.  Even people with known anger problems.  And this has a tendency to end in the deaths of police officers.  While I may think that the police have strayed from their mission of "to protect and serve", they don't deserve to die serving a warrant.

Of course he is.  Opposing Roberts and Alito was portrayed as partisan and being a bad sport, but opposing Sotomayor is okay because he has concerns about her positions on gun rights and white firefighters who like to sue their employers.  Sessions needs a session with mental health care provider.

My personal favorite of the beer labels banned in Maine is the last one.  Nut-Browned Ale sounds a little toasty, doesn't it?


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Disrespecting The Troops

As if sending the men and women of our Armed Forces, Reserves and National Guard to fight a war under false pretenses wasn't disrespectful enough.  As if sending those same troops to fight without the proper armor, intel or decent working equipment and then telling them that you go to war with what you have when you had been planning to go to war all along wasn't disrespectful enough.  As if hiding the troops who have fallen fighting this war and sneaking their bodies back in the dark of night wasn't disrespectful enough.  As if forcing the wounded to recover in hospitals that were falling down around their ears wasn't disrespectful enough.  As if the veterans weren't homeless and joblesss after returning from active duty wasn't disrespectful enough.  As if all the lies about the friendly fire deaths wasn't disrespectful enough.  As if the troops being forced to live and work in 90,000 substandard and dangerous facilities in Iraq wasn't disrespectful enough.

As if all of those weren't disrespectful enough, Salon has confirmed (with audio for the doubting Thomases of the 101st Fighting Keyboarders) what those of us who really support the troops have suspected for some time.  That the previous administration regarded injured troops as pieces of equipment that should be thrown away unmended as often as possible.  If this soldier hadn't carried a tape recorder because of his PTSD and traumatic brain injury induced CRS (can't remember shit) disease we might still be waiting for the truth to come out.  Again.

But what Sgt. X wants to tell a reporter about is one doctor's appointment at Fort Carson that his wife did not witness. When she couldn't accompany him to an appointment with psychologist Douglas McNinch last June, Sgt. X tucked a recording device into his pocket and set it on voice-activation so it would capture what the doctor said. Sgt. X had no idea that the little machine in his pocket was about to capture recorded evidence of something wounded soldiers and their advocates have long suspected -- that the military does not want Iraq veterans to be diagnosed with PTSD, a condition that obligates the military to provide expensive, intensive long-term care, including the possibility of lifetime disability payments. And, as Salon will explore in a second article Thursday, after the Army became aware of the tape, the Senate Armed Services Committee declined to investigate its implications, despite prodding from a senator who is not on the committee. The Army then conducted its own internal investigation -- and cleared itself of any wrongdoing.

snip

McNinch added that he also received pressure not to properly diagnose traumatic brain injury, Sgt. X's other medical problem. "When I got there I was told I was overdiagnosing brain injuries and now everybody is finding out that, yes, there are brain injuries," he recalled. McNinch said he argued, "'What are we going to do about treatment?' And they said, 'Oh, we are just counting people. We don't plan on treating them.'" McNinch replied, "'You are bringing a generation of brain-damaged individuals back here. You have got to get a game plan together for this public health crisis.'"

When McNinch learned he would be quoted in a Salon article, he cut off further questions. He also said he would deny the interview took place. Salon, however, had recorded the conversation.

Hmm, they must have learned that trick from all the wiretapping stories.

As a taxpayer I am concerned that my dollars aren't good enough for the troops but are good enough to bailout highly paid and incompetent banking and insurance executives.  As a veteran my heart is breaking that those who served faithfully under trying circumstances are being discarded as if they were trash.  As an American I am flabbergasted that the troops are being treated this way after the Walter Reed scandal.  As a human being I am disappointed by the inhumanity of it all.

Our troops and veterans deserve the best that we can give them, no matter what the cost.  After all, isn't that what we ask of them?

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Abusing The Country

This is the opposition?  They sound like they've been listening to too many "experts"and it certainly sounds like Gregg has turned off his brain as if it was a light switch.  Anyway you look at it tomorrow's generation is going to have to pay for the sins of the Bush administration and to say that President Obama's budget is irresponsible after eight years of massive tax cuts for the wealthy and the almost continuous war on the poor, is a little too much like downing bottles of champagne and then trying to convince the police officer that you aren't drunk, you still have the judgment to drive and the alcohol on your breath is from a mint.

Gregg repeated what has become an opposition mantra, saying the president's plan "spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much."

As opposed to the billions lost to graft and greed in the last eight years which will never to be accounted for, corporations getting ridiculous tax breaks and then moving their operations to a different country so they can avoid any taxes or paying workers a living wage, stealing the youth of today to fight wars whose only accomplishments were to kill innocent civilians, a couple of politicians in a sovereign state that had nothing to do with terrorist acts perpetrated on the United States yet lets Osama bin Laden wander free to continue creating havoc and leaves the veterans to suffer neglect and abuse after serving their country honorably?

Republicans need to get a grip on reality and realize that the country is in a hole that they dug and learn to support their president.  Or at least that's what they've been telling the rest of us for the last eight years while they destroyed the Constitution and rammed disaster after disaster down our throats while threatening us with treason for speaking out about being treated like an abused wife.  The country divorced you and it didn't ask for alimony or child support, it just wants you to go away while it tries to rebuild itself.

And like true abusers, Republicans keep believing that more abuse will make us see it their way.  Until they get therapy and realize that not only are they part of the problem but that they created the situation, the country is not going to listen to much of what they say.

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Well, Isn't That Special?

So far my student loan for my Master's in Chinese Medicine is $99,515 and I can't afford to either practice, set up an office or get any small business loans to help me out.  After four years of school that was located nowhere near where I was living before I realized that acupuncture worked and that I didn't have to go all the way to China to learn it, it's nice to know that the military thinks acupuncture is beneficial.

Ultimately, Niemtzow would like troops to learn acupuncture so they can treat each other while out on missions. For now, the Air Force program is limited to training physicians.

He says it's "remarkable" for the military, a "conservative institution," to incorporate acupuncture.

"The history of military medicine is rich in development," he said, "and a lot of people say that if the military is using it, then it must be good for the civilian world."

Nope, I can't practice my profession without a license but some doctor who thinks he's found a new technique in a medicine that is thousands of years old and is going to teach his version to troops who can do more damage with a little training of one minor form of acupuncture than the benefit is going to be worth.   Or as the saying goes, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

Why not get them battle armor that does the job correctly (Newsflash:  money doesn't help dead people) instead and leave the administering of acupuncture to people who have had more training in both theory and practice?

No wonder I'm depressed.

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They Can't Be Serious

Honestly, every time I think the Bush regime has done as much damage as it's going to, more atrocities are revealed.  As a veteran myself, I have taken special interest in how active military and veterans are being treated by the crew without a clue.  When I first read the story of soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan being denied benefits because their injuries were determined not to be combat related, I had to hold my head tight to keep it from exploding.  Since when is being injured in a land mine explosion or mortars pelting the area you are stationed in, considered not to be combat related?  This last March would be the answer.  Because everybody knows those kinds of injuries happen at home all the time.  Once again the people who have paid the the most are the ones that are getting screwed.

And if that wasn't enough to raise my blood pressure, the GAO has found that Bush loyalists were once again cooking the books to make themselves look better.  Competitive outsourcing is a bad policy that has had real world ramifications and demeans the people who have done the job successfully for many years.  What's really interesting is that all of the people let go were African American.  Color me not surprised.

Good grief!  Let the kids have a little fun, they're in kindergarten and this is their introduction to US history.  They will grow up soon enough and discover that most o fwhat they have been taught is a lie, why hurry the process?  If they can't dress up as Pilgrims and Indians, dressing up as angels and a little drummer boy next month are going to be out of the question.

Did you know that women are allowed to drive in Iran?  They can even have their own business as taxi drivers.  Now that Iraq has been reduced to a fundamentalist prison, at least it is from a woman's point of view,  Iran has more democratic freedoms than other Muslim countries.  Imagine that.

More banks are failing and the ranks of the destitute are growing quickly.  Destitute is worse than poor. You can be poor and still have a leaky roof over your head, when you are destitute you have nothing.  Which is what happens when you lose your job, house and self respect.  Food stamps only help if you have a place to store and cook the food and while a family of four making less than $21,000 is considered to be below the poverty level, it's still more money than being unemployed and homeless.

Unfortunately, I know the problem a little too well.  Fortunately, my landlord has relented for the moment and has agreed to let us stay until February.  Work Comp has made me an offer, albeit a very small one, so mom and I will have a roof over our heads for a few more months and I'm trying to find a regular job.  Mom really can't be left alone for very long, she does weird things and doesn't remember doing them and now adult protective services wants her watched at all times, so I would prefer to work from home.  Unfortunately all those offers have turned out to be scams. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

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Screwing Veterans and Schlubs

Some gave all, others are forced to do it one drop at a time.  As I told anybody who would listen to me and quite a few who didn't, the repercussions of a war very rarely affect the people at the top, it's the troops on the bottom who bear the brunt of the burden.

“You fill out a job application and you can’t write ‘long-range reconnaissance and sniper skills,’ ” said Mr. Spurlock, who searched a year for a better-paying job than delivering pizza, finally finding one as a construction supervisor.

Truer words were never spoken.  They always say when you join the military that you will have skills that employers want when you get out.  The recruiting commercials make it look like you will be considered an employer's dream.  What a crock.  When I got out of the Army many years ago it became blindingly obvious that very few of my skills (other than the ability to take orders and I wasn't very good at that) would translate into civilian life.  Seriously, how many people have a Lance, TOW, Dragon or Shillelagh missile in their backyard that needs help with the guidance system? The correct answer is none.

It was weekend at the movies.  I saw Quantum of Solace on Friday night (not bad, Casino Royale was better) and Bolt on Saturday.  Bolt rocked.  It might help to be a dog lover but it really isn't necessary.  I also saw the new Star Trek trailer and it looks like the movie will be filled with action but it will have a long way to go in order to equal the nonstop action in Quantum.

Give it a rest.  The bailout is not working.  It hasn't changed the national economy one iota but it has enabled some companies to acquire smaller rivals and to continue the lavish lifestyle of the CEOs who had a big hand in creating this mess.  Meanwhile the rest of us schlubs continue to slide deeper into the hole that at this moment has no bottom.  I wonder how long it is going to take before the powers that be realize that if the schlubs don't have money to pay their bills they won't have money to buy the overpriced goods on the shelves and more companies will go under.  Unfortunately, just like any snowball on its way downhill, the crisis will continue to get bigger and companies will go under faster.

Two weeks after the election approval of Congress is still lower than approval of Bush and what do they do?  They continue to make the same mistakes hoping that two years from now we will have forgotten all about their bad behavior.  After the electorate (that would be us schlubs) voted Democrats into the majority and how do they repay us?  By disregarding everything we want and reinforcing the opinion that once Congress critters are in office they don't care about anything else.  Least of all the truth or doing what their constituents want.  In what world is it okay to be rewarded for voluntarily playing for the other team in the middle of the playoffs and then not be punished for your actions?  And the answer is...our world.  Nothing has changed except McCain and Palin didn't have seats when the music stopped playing.  And neither do we.

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Shattered Dreams

Yippee! Life is coming back. I really enjoyed the show. It was as quirky as Dexter, but not as violent. Why ABC is touting it instead of NBC, the network it's really on, is beyond me. Whatever it takes to bring it more viewers attention is okay by me.

In the it's about time category, the Hubbard Act has been amended so that it doesn't punish the sole veteran survivors for the last 65 years. And Bush signed it without a veto threat, what a concept.

In regards to this experience to be President thing.  The only candidates that run for office and have the experience to do the job, are called incumbents.  Every single President has had to learn on the job.  Every single one, from George Washington to George Bush.  Nobody has a clue until they start doing the job.  Let's move on from a lack of experience to a lack of substance.  That applies to all the candidates.  Anyone who wants to be President, should be disqualified immediately.  I've known people who aren't in politics that could do a better job than the crop we've been saddled with since 1980.  Although I'm willing to admit that my life circumstances were so much better under Clinton.  Heck, I was living better than I am now when Carter was President.  I was even able to buy a house in California and make the payments.

Turns out mom had a slight fracture of her hip but the orthopedist didn't feel like doing anything about it (not even call and tell her to stay off of her leg, which I was already making her do) and when we went for mom's follow up with her primary care idiot, I had to beg for a walker for her.  We're on our way to get one now.    Pain medication was nonexistent for her and if it wasn't for a good friend who had some Lidocaine patches, she wouldn't have been able to function at all.  It doesn't matter if you have insurance or not, they just don't care about the patient anymore.  It's a good thing I have a medical degree or she would be toast.  Her doctor hates me and it doesn't bother me at all.  If I didn't speak up, they would just let her die.  Painfully.

How about a little music for the morning?  Back to the eighties with Johnny Hates Jazz.


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One More Instance Of GOP Hypocrisy

Support the troops!  Unless you're a member of the GOP and think that 25 million is too much to spend on paralyzed veterans.  A bridge to nowhere is okay, helping people who can't walk or pee without assistance is not.  And then to add insult to injury the GOP tries to use the issue to accuse the Demowienies of avoiding dealing with high gas prices.  Otherwise known as offshore drilling for their corporate buddies.

Republicans blasted the bill as an attempt to bait them and distract from measures to deal with high gas prices.

"They're using every trick to get us away from dealing with high gas prices," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Let's recap the GOP support of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Bad armor, insufficiently armored vehicles, no plan other than shock and awe, multiple tours, poor medical care if they get back to the United States in less than pristine condition, ignoring the emotional costs of war in veterans, closing brain injury units as the incidences of brain injuries in the troops was increasing due to the IEDs that nobody "could have foreseen", obstruction of the GI Bill and now willing to let injured veterans be forever hostage to other people for help.  

The best part?  Tom Coburn has the nerve to consider himself a doctor. Unlike recently departed Randy Pasuch, not the kind that helps people.

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Obama Ranks Ninth

At least in this post.  I wonder if it will get me locked out of my Blogger account like others who didn't show the proper appreciation of the new boy wonder.

Yippee!  100 members of the California National Guard return to San Jose from a yearlong tour in Iraq.  Unfortunately they won't be able to enjoy their time at home because there are so many fires that firefighters are having to let some fires rage in an effort to save communities.  So they can flood if we get any rain this coming winter.

He could be looking for Larry and Curly or he could be looking for a member of the opposite sex. 

When I was a teenager one of my chores was to take the cars to the gas station and wait in line to fill them up.  Both of our cars had odd numbered plates and I would waste a whole afternoon filling up the '63 Galaxy 500 and then the '69 Mustang.  I'd take a book, crank up the AM radio and off to wait in line I went.  I didn't mind because it gave me a real excuse to be out of the house and Dad didn't know how long the lines were.  Or weren't.  At no time did I have to dodge bullets or push my car towards a station I couldn't see and then when I got there find out it wasn't working because there wasn't any electricity.  For the Iraqis it's like the old saying, "water, water everywhere, nor a drop to drink."

I'm so happy that troop deaths are down in Iraq.  Too bad the same can't be said for Afghanistan.

Coming soon to a home near you.  And if you complain about the government, it will probably be sooner rather than later.

We don't take care of our own veterans, we certainly aren't going to take care of Iraq's.     Out of sight and out of mind.  Just the way America likes all of its problems.  That way we can pretend we had nothing to do with destroying their lives.

Meryl Streep is not the reason I want to see Mamma Mia!  Nor is it Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skaarsgard or Colin Firth and it's definitely not the ABBA music.   My reason is Amanda Seyfried, who's character's untimely death was the reason for Veronica Mars first season.

This reminds me of  In The Year 2525 except the that we won't have to wait until the year 6565 to pick our kids from the bottom of a long glass tube.

Last, and most certainly not least, Obama wants to not only continue a Bush plan, he wants to expand it.  Even if it doesn't work and encourages religious discrimination.  He will do anything and say anything to get elected.  Next thing you know, he'll be encouraging the citizenry to believe we want to stay in Iraq and bomb Iran.   Politicians may look different, but they all want the same thing.  Power, fame and fortune.  And they don't care who they have to step on to get it.

Saturday Link Fest

If the reaction of some of the blogs on the left to Obama's failure of leadership and willingness to compromise the gutting of the Fourth Amendment is any indication, McCain will come closer than $400,000 in funds raised. I feel sorry for some of them, they feel so betrayed. A politician is a politician, it doesn't matter what party they belong to. In one fell swoop, and a little early at that, he revealed that his true intentions are to get elected, not represent the people who enabled him to be in a position to run for president in the fist place. And Pelosi can kiss her constituency goodbye.

Every day that goes by, every action of the Demowienies for the last two years, reinforces my opinion that this election isn't going to change a darn thing. I'm still seriously doubting that we will have an election, but even if we do, the destruction of the Constitution and our economy will continue. It seems to be in Congress' best interests to ignore the wishes of the people and go their own merry way.

Now I'm really awake. Weren't they cute? I know the early bird is supposed to get the worm, but do all the birds have to wake up and sing at the same time? Every morning around 5:10 it goes from quiet to noisy all at once. It's pretty. And when I'm sleepy, it's pretty annoying. And then a half hour later they suddenly stop. All at once. Very weird.

Hmm, this will be as popular as a fart in church. Somebody besides me thinks that we should face reality and do the right thing. If it isn't too late already. Sooner or later, someone is going to have to pay for us breaking the law and I would prefer if it was the people who authorized it and sent down the orders.

A peaceful camping trip with the family turns into dodging bullets and hiding behind trees and cars. What a nightmare. I believe in the right to bear arms, but do they really need all those bullets?

Why the Santa Clara police would believe that a 75 year old veteran was trying to mix it up with a guy many years younger than him totally baffles me. Knowing the manners of the two generations and not the color of their skin tells me who I am more likely to believe. Even if you thought the 75 year old guy was being offensive, it's no reason to cold-cock him.

Our favorite Klingon representative is going to Asia. I wonder if she's going to buy shoes while she's there. For someone who was constantly in the news, Condi has been really quiet for the last year.

Umm, the only way it would be impossible is if you don't have any nuclear facilities. Audacity is something Israel has in spades. Heck, they spy on us and we're their allies.

It's supposed to be 102 degrees today in San Jose. I like the heat but that's a little extreme so early in the summer. Mom doesn't do well in the heat and yesterday while I was at the store she decided (after I told her not to) to go for a ten minute walk at 3 o'clock. No hat and wearing her bedroom slippers, I thought I was going to have a stroke when my neighbor told me. She was overheated for the rest of the day and now I'm scared to leave her alone. If I take her with me she won't leave the car and that isn't a good idea. I guess I'll go to the store when it opens at 9 and that way I'll be able to keep watch.

I think I'll brine some pork chops and then barbecue them later. Since I have all the ingredients (courtesy of Grocery Outlet), I'm looking forward to making these Blue Cheese Crusted Tomatoes. I'll be really glad when my tomatoes are ready, then I bet the recipe will really rock. If there is any corn at the store I'll grill that too. Add a salad and we're good to go. I can't decide between the Spicy Orange Salad with Green Onions or the Watermelon, Green Onion, and Mint Salad. The watermelon would be a better choice for mom since it's so cooling and mint helps to release heat.

BBB

Saturday Morning Musings

No more thrill of victory or the agony of defeat for Jim McKay. He passed away today at the grand old age of 86. I will never forget the work that he and Howard Cosell did at the Munich Olympics after everything went so wrong. Rest in peace and thank you for a job well done. I'm a little confused, ABC had to find out from ESPN? What's up with that?

And this is a surprise because? Reagan must be spinning in his grave. Bush and the rest of the crew without a clue must be so proud of what they've accomplished. The destruction of the economy and the rise of Russia as a world power. Again.

I used to take the Amtrak from Los Angeles to Las Vegas on a pretty frequent basis and if there was one thing it wasn't, it was empty. Sometimes it would be standing room only on the way back from Vegas and when they canceled it, it ruined my mini-vacations. So Bush, the man who doesn't want veterans to have a decent G.I. Bill to reward them for the sacrifices he's never made, has signed a 45 million dollar bill for a Maglev between Disneyland and Las Vegas. I guess going from one playground to another is okay, going to college isn't.

Video of the B-2 Stealth Bomber crash from last February.

Well, on the bright side, global warming will do us in before the magnetic field weakens. Recent experiments have revealed that the field has been steadily weakening since 1845 and is predicted to be gone in 500 years.

3Bs

Sweetest Line Of The Morning

Not because of what he did but because now almost every news story can start in much the same way.

"Bush will lay the wreath at Arlington National Cemetary for the last time."

May there be more last times for Bush, he's caused enough of them for everybody else. 4082 families from the useless war in Iraq. So far. And how the heck can Americans remember their war dead if he keeps hiding them from public view? Bush only trots out the proper sentiment on holidays, the rest of the year he is too busy making sure that the survivors have no benefits when they get out, that they can't afford college or a home, and that they have no other choice but to stay in until they die.

Then while they are out doing their duty, Bush cuts food stamps for their families, closes hospitals near their homes, refuses to help with the foreclosures caused by severe decrease in income for the Reserves and the National Guard, and at the same time eviscerates the education system for young people in the hope that they will have no other choice but to be the next sacrificial victims veterans in the "war on terror".

Bush is a president that has ignored the will of the people; let a major U.S. city drown while he vacationed and that was after he let New York and Washington D.C., the supposed seat of our government, be attacked; regards the Constitution as "a piece of paper"; illegally spies on American citizens; flaunts his stupidity on a daily basis as he condones torture and asks people to go shopping instead of rebuilding our country's infrastructure and reclaiming our place in the world by fixing ourselves first before trying to remove a perceived splinter from countries who haven't asked for our "help". He's a colossal failure who continues to make things worse in an effort to leave behind a legacy without realizing he has already done so.

It's Memorial Day and the only person I want to be remembering is Osama bin Laden, swinging from a gallows pole.


He should have some company, like those who could be convicted of war crimes but will likely escape any earthly penance and continually wonder why history (if we have one) is so unkind to them.

So please, let's start as many stories about Bush as we can with for the last time.

BBB

Momentary Lapse Of Reason

If only it was momentary, but this is more like falling into the event horizon of a black hole. It keeps going on and on, like a really bad dream. A moment of remembrance to pay tribute to our veterans. Could this President (and I use that term extremely loosely) blow it out his ass any more? No raises, no G.I. Bill, limited benefits that the injured have to beg for, stop-loss as a way of life, inadequate armor, a Green Zone that isn't safe and all they get is a moment of remembrance for their sacrifice? With a little luck nobody will remember this schmuck except as a monument to the stupidity of the crew without a clue. That is either swept up in an monstrous twister or disappears when another levee breaks.

Bush had several suggestions for how to honor the sacrifices of those who have fought for the United States — place a flag at a veteran's grave, go to a battlefield or say a prayer. He said the moment of remembrance would be marked Monday at 3 p.m. local time.

"At that moment, Major League Baseball games will pause, the National Memorial Day parade will halt, Amtrak trains will blow their whistles and buglers in military cemeteries will play taps," he said Saturday in his weekly radio address.

If only our long national nightmare was over. That would be a great headline for January 20,2009, wouldn't it? Somehow I just don't see Bubble Boy following the Constitution then since he hasn't followed it for the last eight years.

Oops! Famous people and lawmakers are being caught up in the foreclosure crisis. Another one of things that the crew without a clue couldn't have foreseen.

Double oops! Racism in Alabama, now who would have ever thought that was still happening. I'm sure Harper Lee is just thrilled. Empty minds indeed.

From racism to sexism. Girl does better than boys, parents demand she not be allowed to play with the boys. The boys didn't mind having her in the league. Oh yeah, this country is advanced alright. Into the Dark Ages.

Pot has been back in the news with the typical governmental scare tactics and I've tried to ignore the stories, but when the truly uninformed write an article and say things like

One thing has changed: Pot packs a bigger wallop now than it did in the '70s. Today's leaves are up to five times as potent. So, says Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, still-developing brains, which are "more plastic, more sensitive to being modified," are exposed to higher doses of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

Two things spring immediately to mind. One, they know nothing about pot, people don't smoke the leaves, they smoke the buds. And two, why don't they worry about all the prescription drugs they pump into these developing brains to make them conform to a societal standard of behavior? Oh that's right, they were prescribed and it's okay if kids are turned into unthinking automatons that do everything they are told without questioning.

Clinton must stop campaigning, according to all the pundits and people who don't believe in a true democratic process, you know the one where everyone gets a nominal say in the process. Meanwhile, Ron Paul and his supporters haven't given up running against a stumbling McCain campaign and the NY Times has an article up today that might as well be a love letter. Granted it was in the Fashion & Style section, but it's still better treatment than Hillary has gotten.

Big Brass Blog

A Kinder, Gentler America

Exists in our imagination, not in reality. In reality, we treat people who need help as a disgusting drain on the system. No matter what the circumstances or how innocent they may be. And if they aren't from this country, we won't and don't give them the care and consideration that an American would expect to receive in a foreign country under the same circumstances. And we call ourselves civilized. There is going to come a time, most likely in the near future, when we will need the type of help that China or Burma currently need and the world will turn its back on us. And we will complain mightily, totally forgetting all of the cruel, insensitive and depraved actions we have taken against those who we have determined are less than human. White American humans that is.

And then there are the Israelis. The usual bullets against stones, with the normal result. I know my position isn't popular, Ireland has been one of the safest places in the world recently and who would have predicted that back in the 70s?

While I empathize with Damien Cave, imagine being an Iraqi veteran and trying to readjust to society in an America that doesn't care. Without the job, the money, or the contacts.

No, they didn't. The trauma and drama is something that will affect ALL those kids for many years to come. While there is something definitely wrong with the way the elders practice their lifestyle, the kids did not deserve to have their lives totally destroyed. 400 kids, forcibly separated from the only love they had ever known. You bet it was wrong. But then, this is the state that also contains Waco. And Crawford.

Do you like oral sex? How about some velvet handcuffs, feathers and a major tickle session before getting down to those three minutes that are supposed to satisfy? Do you like the lights on? Do you prefer to physically be with someone of your own sex? Do you like to do it in the shower? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you might be a deviant. At least according to the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders that is currently being worked on. By appointees of the current Bush administration. The definition of normal sex (according to the American Psychiatric Association, that bastion of people who determine what is normal and what isn't) is being worked on once again. I think they discovered that some people don't even do it under the covers. Oh, the horror.

Okay, enough funning around, back to the world we live in now. Only in America can one lose one's home for a $68 dental bill. My potted tomatoes (if the wind doesn't blow them away today) are worth more than that bill. In what world do you take someone's place of residence in lieu of smaller items? There are people who have larger outstanding phone or cable bills and they are still living in their homes, but with satellite and cell phones instead. Can indentured servitude for parking tickets be far behind?

3Bsand IIRTZ.

How Much Lower Can We Go?

Are there any depths to which this current administration will not sink? I know it seems like a stupid question considering everything they've screwed up over the last seven years, but even this one boggles what little mind I have left. It seems that those who have served faithfully in this misbegotten war, are not eligible for the tax stimulus checks that the country really can't afford. Yes, I know people have conveniently ignored the fact that quite a few military families are forced to used food stamps to survive, but how anyone in their right mind would think that the troops don't deserve the maximum amount of the stimulus package totally baffles me.

Every morning I'm greeted with some stupid ass story about how the troops are being supported. But not by the government that sends them into harm's way time after time without adequate armor, decent food or water, poor housing when they get back and an atrocious medical system that punishes them for being injured on the field of battle. If they were in the Reserves or the National Guard, even though it's against the law, their jobs aren't waiting for them when they get back and due to the high rate of PTSD that everyone except the government recognizes, our military veterans can't find decent employment while they wait for the next time they are called up. Even if it's three years after their last tour.

What kind of country are we that we can obsess about flag pins and not worry about those who have been injured or killed supposedly defending this nation from terrorists from without while the terrorists from within destroy everything this country used to stand for?

Our troops passed fucked up without collecting $300 and the rest of us are on our way to cultural armageddon. The rich continue to get richer, the poor continue to get poorer and our troops continued to get screwed.

3Bs

This 'N That

Poor O'Lielly, he thinks Edwards is out of touch with reality, methinks it's a case of the pot calling the kettle black. A new generation of homeless veterans, now who could have foreseen that? Anybody but the crew without a clue and there clueless supporters.

Now that the United States has justified preemptive strikes, everybody's doing it. Are we going to have duck and cover videos to go along with sealing our windows with duct tape? Reagan must be spinning in his grave so fast that he could be a whole new source of energy. Non-nuclear of course.

The United States of Everybody but Americans is coming right up. Bought and sold to the highest bidder. While Lou Dobbs worries about a border fence to keep illegals from taking American jobs, the companies themselves are being bought by non Americans. At this rate we are going to be illegal workers in our own country.

The plot of the latest Die Hard movie is looking more plausible (minus the explosions and gun battles) every day.

Oops.