9 May 2012 North Carolina proves the lie of American Exceptionalism

          Go to any athletic event and the stands will be occupied by fans and hangers-on who are  yelling, “We’re number 1!.  This, unfortunately seems to carry over to all manner of occupational, political, military, & cultural situations.   The average American has been conditioned to believe that the U.S. is exceptional & superior with respect to all other nations, political systems, educational systems, health care delivery systems, and professional athletics. 

          Last night that exceptional nature was challenged and found to be full of immense, deep, holes.  North Carolina voters lined up squarely on the side of religious intolerance.  They also voted to single out and discriminate against a minority population of NC citizens. 

          Gay and lesbian citizens in NC have been told that the majority finds them unequal in nature and therefore, are to be denied a basic human pair-bonding ritual.  These good folks of North Carolina were so determined to discriminate against gays and lesbians that they passed a law prohibiting them from “marriage.”  Now, they have passed a constitutional amendment to prevent a later, perhaps more rational, legislature and populace from repealing that law.  That’s adding suspenders to a belt. 

          I keep hearing that allowing gays and lesbians to “marry” will somehow degrade the marriages of all those good and Christian folks who have followed the clamor of the Graham family church and corporation as they lead the American Taliban in their practices of intolerance, exclusion, and just plain institutionalized bigotry.  Try as I may, I am unable to understand how the formalized civil union of any two people of any gender, race, religion, or even intellectual abilities can have any effect on the long and happy relationship that Gloria and I share.  I suppose early childhood indoctrination may be responsible for the emotional and mental conditions that generate that level of malevolence. 

          There was a lot of hatred and intolerance displayed last night in North Carolina.  There was a lot of intellectual inadequacy paraded on radio and television last night as the supposed victors failed, again, to prove how their actions protect anything beyond entrenched bigotry. 

          The decision to discriminate against our own citizens proves there is nothing exceptional about America except our willingness to prove that we can behave like backward members of 3^rd world tribes.  We’ve just proven that we are no longer the magic place, which was once the safe haven for those fleeing persecution.  There’s nothing exceptional about our rejection of the enlightenment. 

          But what worries me most of all is that distant echo of the middle 20^th century.  Was that glass breaking last night in North Carolina?  Or was it the last glimmer of America’s former promise of equal opportunity for everyone being flushed down the drain by the GOP/teavangelists?

8 May 2012 Cattle and chattel drive time in Kansas

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/05/07/kansas-house-passes-most-dangerous-sweeping-anti-abortion-law-in-the-nation/

Kansas House Passes Most Dangerous Sweeping Anti-Abortion Law In the Nation

May 7, 2012

By Stephen D. Foster Jr.

            “In March, Addictinginfo reported on a dangerous anti-abortion bill being considered by the Republican dominated Kansas House of Representatives. We are now horrified to report that the Kansas House has passed that bill and it now goes to the Senate.

            “Republicans are poised to make the 69 page bill the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the nation. Among the provisions include:

            “ A sales tax on all abortions. Even rape victims would have to pay the tax, which could be as high as 6.3%. Despite their objections to millionaires paying more taxes, Republicans feel it’s okay to tax women for making a personal decision about their own bodies. This makes abortion more expensive…

            “ A personhood measure that would define life as beginning at conception, which would almost certainly make abortion equivalent to murder and outlaw all abortion in the state of Kansas. Many forms of contraception could also be banned.

            “ A measure that significantly limits abortions in the third trimester.

            “ A provision that bans women from claiming abortion insurance coverage and services on their taxes.

            “Doctors are hereby ordered to tell women that abortion causes breast cancer, which is a damned lie.

            “ Doctors are also shielded from lawsuits if they withhold critical health information from pregnant women that could cause them to decide to have an abortion. In other words, they don’t have to tell women about the health of the fetus they carry and don’t have to tell women about any problems with the pregnancy.

            “Such measures would make it nearly impossible for women to get an abortion in the state of Kansas. They would severely restrict a woman’s right to make her own health decisions. And the bill forces women to submit to the will of men…”

          Read the excerpts above and tell me that you can, in any manner, find a single bit of justification for the actions of Kansas legislators.  Realizing, perhaps, that the women of the state are no longer intimidated by religion-based lies about eternal damnation to prevent women planning when, and whether or not to reproduce; this gang of old white men now use lies about acquiring cancer to terrify Kansas women into allowing men to control their reproductive choices.

          I lived in Kansas for a while.  I lived for another period in SW Missouri, just about 20 miles from Kansas.  In both instances, I found Kansas to be interesting places to live with good school systems, good healthcare and culturally forward-looking with a noticeable commitment to the quality of life for all its citizens. 

          Well, there was that “dry state” idiocy that we all worked around by visiting state-run liquor stores and joining “private clubs in order to obtain reciprocity and the opportunity to buy liquor by the drink along with food.  

          However, I moved to Kansas from Arkansas.  Most places would have seemed culturally forward-looking.  In the second instance, life in SW Missouri is such that it makes even the Boy Scouts seem interested in equality and culturally progressive.  I like Kansas in those days. 

          Well, I haven’t changed all that much politically or culturally.  Therefore, something must have really happened to Kansas.  Kansas was a free state, opposed to whites owning black slaves.  Kansas citizens fought a long and bloody war, mostly with neighboring Missouri in order to abolish slavery.  Kansas was a prime factor in the desegregation of schools and other facilities and institutions. 

          Somewhere along the way to abolishing chattel slavery Kansas elected some leaders who have decided that the freedom matter applies only to males.   It appears that we may yet be fighting another long and bloody war to free women from repressive religious intrusion into their lives.  Kansas is an appropriate place to begin the 2^nd American civil war.   2012 is as good a year to start as any.  

7 May 2012 What price for a pilot?

          Everything I have ever heard about the F-22 from any source has been positive in nature.  The aircraft is stealthy, remarkably fast, conserves fuel, and incredibly agile in the air.  It has generated gigabytes of praise while only the cost has been detraction.

          Last night, two USAF pilots appeared on “60 Minutes” to describe what they believe to be a serious design flaw in the Raptor that subjects the pilots to hypoxia while in flight.  Hypoxia is insidious in onset.  It renders otherwise healthy people incapable of rational thought and action.  For the pilot of a combat aircraft, the result can and has been inadvertent destruction of $22,000,000 airframes with the loss of pilots.  Civilian property and life are also at risk. 

          The F-22 has never been flown into combat.  The mission it was designed for vanished with the USSR. 

          USAF pilots have refused to fly the plane for fear of the oxygen delivery system’s apparent inability to provide a safe and adequate source of oxygen to the pilots.  They are risking their flight status, their careers, and even their retirement income.  The manufacturer, Lockheed-Martin, says the plane is safe to fly.  The Air Force has grounded the fleet but returned it to duty with the problem unresolved. 

          The pilots are the determinant factor for me.  Most of them are so driven to fly that they fully accept the inherent risk of flying high-performance, combat aircraft for a living.  They’d try to fly anything at all if it had wings and generated a feeling of speed.  They are, to me, the best judges of a plane’s airworthiness.  This one scares them. 

          What action has Lockheed-Martin taken?  They’ve initiated a Twitter campaign that is geared at masking the problem.  They should be smacked hard for that organized lie campaign.

          Listen to the pilots; it is their asses on the line

          Film at 11

6 May 2012 Day One Down

          We’ve successfully administered the first day’s doses of antibiotic to Gloria.  We’re working with injection rig that should be changed every day and an IV cannula that needs to last 10 days.  That is a far reach for hospitalized patients.  The agency RN who started the line was under the impression that Gloria would have a PICC line in place.  She will ask for that to be put in.  That should make managing this series a bit easier and hopefully lessen the risks for Gloria. 

          Needless to say, we’re treating that line very gently. 

          We have nine more days of IV meds to complete. 

         

5 May 2012 There’s a purpose for OCD

          Things are slowly coming into a more stable pattern.

          At 2030, or so, yesterday we received a large, chilly box.  Said box contained various packages of tubing, infusion hardware, gloves, a disposable IV stand, and a large package of pre-measured doses of a powerful antibiotic.  Said last now fills 1/5 of available refrigerator space. 

          We got up early this morning and showered between thunderstorms, foolishly assuming that we would soon be visited by a nurse.  The last word we received has the nurse arriving at 1330.  We could have used the extra sleep. 

          The nurse is to insert a line and then teach me how to use and maintain that line so that we can administer the antibiotics q 8 hrs for the next week.  I used to know how to insert lines and maintain them.  But the hardware and technology for infusion therapy changed while I was working in the isolation of the clinical lab.  Now I need to be refreshed in knowledge and skill for an aspect of care I have not used much since I graduated in 73. 

          This is when my native OC nature kicks in.  From all those lab years, I know the reasons for what I am going to do and why it must be done just as instructed.  Poor Gloria!  I’m rather a foul nurse, and I’m unlikely to change.  However, I tend to treat myself in the same manner when ill.  At least she will have that to conjure with. 

          She had hoped to go dancing in Jonesborough tonight.  I doubt it will happen.  The risk of losing the line is too great. 

          While grocery shopping in Greeneville yesterday, I bought a new wireless router.  I installed it this morning and our network is operational again.  Range is still not that great.  It may require an extender. 

          I make no concession to the date or to equine matters.  If you feel the need to consume ethanol, go ahead.  I don’t encourage such marketing.

          

4 May 2012 Another exercise in patients

          And another in patience as well.

          We’ve been waiting since Monday for a physician’s office to read a susceptibility report and order a course of antibiotics for Gloria.  It is Friday morning and we are still waiting for a phone call telling us when to report, and where to report.  We would have preferred this be done by a home nursing service.  However, no local service or agency will agree to accept the order because they are unwilling to work with or for Humana, Gloria’s Medicare advantage carrier.  The upside is that should anything go awry, hospital services will be available.  The downside is that we continue to wait and Gloria remains untreated.   We are tethered to the phones and unable to carry out our normal activities. 

          Further taxing our patience, the Tennessee Legislature has completed another round of “Roll Back the Enlightenment – Bring Back the Inquisition.”  Star attractions in the game are bits of legal manipulation that allow the coal companies and those energy companies higher up the food chain to continue their game of “Tear Down the Mountains – Fill Up the Valleys”

          The goal of “Tear Down…” is to create a new Tennessee topography in which the elevations above sea level are equal from east to west and from north to south.  Remake TN to look like a large bit of high prairie without the bumps and high spots in the road is the plan. 

          Persecute the Poor was another favorite game this year.   Requiring welfare recipients to submit to drug testing in order to receive any manner of service from the state is very popular among the GOP/teavangelist mob that continues to grow in religious intolerance, bigotry and inability to understand that the GOP does not represent their interests in any instance.  Requiring the poor to pay for their own persecution is about as petty and hateful as any law passed in the U.S. this year. 

          They passed a set of bills prohibiting “gateway sexual activity” in schools.  That prevents teachers from discussing homosexuality for fear that the little sanctified products of immaculate misconception might somehow be tempted to explore what their bodies suggest to them.  Another attack upon education allows school officials to participate in the “student-initiated religious events.”  Somehow  the idea that requiring students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and to mumble a prayer to the Christian deity, will cause the crime rate to plunge like a red-tailed hawk stooping on  the easter bunny.  They seem unable to recall that there was crime before Madeline Murray O’Hare. 

          However, the icing on the cake is a set of laws dealing with women.  The WASPs have decided to remove any control by women over their own bodies.  It will now be much harder to obtain family planning information, to obtain contraception, and to obtain a legal abortion in TN.   Embryos are now afforded legal status in filing charges for assaults upon women – that only applies to medical procedures – women, for the large part, may still be beaten by males with little or no penalty.   (Of course, this only applies to the poor who are unable to afford trips to Europe or even Mexico, for legal and medically safe family planning.)  I never thought I would be comparing health care in Mexico favorably to any part of the U.S.  There it is Tennessee – No one expected the Inquisition to visit Tennessee either.  The really ugly parts are yet to happen. 

Shabbat Shalom!

3 May 2012  Waterloo, Little Big Horn, Link-sys.

          What do they have in common?  Someone suffered a humiliating defeat in each instance. 

          I’ve spent the better part of three days this week trying to coax productive, effective functionality from a wireless router that is failing rapidly.  The various fixes that I have applied, while talking to support persons at some Philippine Islands call center, have each failed within a short span of time.  This leaves us surrounded (the comparison becomes more clear) by electronic devises that no longer serve us.  Instead, they jeer and obstruct; treating us like an occupying force to be resisted at every opportunity.  While Afghanistan may be the graveyard of empires, Chuckey, with its frequent power and cable outages, may well be the graveyard of aged electronic devices. 

          The wireless router dropped out of use this morning.  The driver replacement it needed two days ago move along to make room for the firmware update that needed to be performed today – and most likely needed to be performed two days ago. 

          We see the writing on the side of the mountain.  We will be obtaining a new router and rebuilding our network yet again.  The network that has been viable since 2004 has been rebuilt 6 times this week and will be rebuilt at least once more before this route is written into the history blogs. 

          Cue “Bonaparte’s Retreat.”