SAN ANGELO, TEXAS. The women of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints sect may have their children returned to them, thanks to a ruling of the appeals court. They are accused of child abuse. I can't judge the merits of that charge, but I think those ladies should all be arrested for bad hair dos.
Hillary is OK. Why can't a candidate act like a human being once in a while? I heard what Hillary said as she recalled the assassination of Robert Kennedy forty years ago next month. It's an emotional memory for her and millions of Americans who remember that terrible day. With Teddy Kennedy facing a possibly fatal illness, the emotions are even stronger. Hillary's comment carried absolutely no implication of anything. She has nothing to apologize for. She has nothing to explain. The Obama campaign was wrong to find meaning that wasn't there. The media has blown this up to ridiculous proportions.
And that's why I'm glad that old John McCain is in the race this year, because one of these days the press is going to push him too far and he is going to blow his legendary top at them. "Okay, you guys, Ill tell you what I think of you -- you blankey, blankety, blank," and granma cover your ears because he's going to let them have it, and I'll be cheering him on.
The Desert and the Tundra. "We can't drive our SUVs and, you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on, you know, 72 degrees at all times, whether we're living in the desert or we're living in the tundra, and then just expect every other country is going to say OK, you know, you guys go ahead keep on using 25 percent of the world's energy, even though you only account for 3 percent of the population, and we'll be fine. Don't worry about us. That's not leadership."
Barak Obama said that last week in Oregon. A lot of people will applaud this sentiment but I don't. We don't owe the rest of the world an explanation. I don't care for the world-dominating bluster of some Super Patriots, but I won't replace that with the kind of false, guilty humility that Obama expresses here. That's not leadership.
A strong initiative toward energy independence is very important -- but skip the apologies.
Bush goes to the Desert. Meanwhile, President George Bush, in a real desert, in a real act of humility, went with his hat in hand to beg a favor from King of Saudi Arabia, "We need more oil, Your Highness, please, for old time's sake." And the king turned him down, but did give him a set of gold cuff links as a remembrance.
My opinion is that we are over-extended in the Middle East and that President Bush wrote a check he can't cash.
Nation building begins at home.
Dictators in Latin America. Dr. Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier was the ruthless dictator of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. Rafael Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza controlled Nicaragua from 1967 until 1979. Other members of the Somoza family had ruled the country since 1936.
Duvallier, Trijillo, and Somoza -- this was the norm in Latin America during those years. There was no democracy, but only control by the great families, and great wealth amid great poverty.
Fulgencio Batista was the dictator and father of all Cuba from 1933 until New Year's Eve in 1958, when Fidel Castro ran him out of the country. Everyone in America cheered. Then he seized the sugar plantations from the wealthy elite and they went into exile in Florida to plot their revenge. Then he imported missiles from Russia and went from being an independent freedom fighter to becoming a communist stooge -- Kruschev's puppet. He became our enemy.
Now Fidel Castro is barely alive. The Cubans have no missiles, the Russians send no money. The older Cuban exiles in Florida no longer dominate their society. The younger Cuban-Americans will not carry on their parents hatred. Cuba will come back to us soon, but we won't be going down there for prostitution and gambling -- we'll be going down there because they have some of the best doctors in the Western Hemisphere.
Jim Smith. Jim Smith writes a column for the LaConner Weekly News. His writing reminds me of Molly Ivins, the late, great Texas columnist. Jim turns out a consistently warm and memory-strewn prose. Everybody* in LaConner likes Jim Smith -- the way you like a meat loaf sandwich.
*LaConnerites are very contrarian and you can't say "everybody" about anything around here.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Groups
Groups. Political reporting is dominated by demographics. The media doesn't need to know what you think -- they only need to know what group you belong to, like "white working class" and "latte drinkers" and "young voters." Your age, gender, race, income, and education determine your political views. There's no need to think, just follow the herd you have been assigned to.
Serious. The farmers were at the coffee shop this morning. They can't get into the fields because of the incessant rain. The discussion was about rising fuel costs -- but the tone was different. It's not so much an abstract matter anymore where the guys are making points in a competitive free-for-all. It's getting closer to "what are we actually going to do about this?" I saw the first $4 per gallon gas prices up in Bellingham yesterday -- this concentrates the mind wonderfully.
It's about time America got resourceful. Nation building begins at home. Can do. Yankee know how. Don't wait for instructions from headquarters. Get started now.
Mashed Potatos. This week at Water Cress Medical Center, the cafeteria is featuring it's famous mashed potatos and brown gravy with Salisbury steak. Doesn't that bring back memories of times when you were too sick to move and they brought the food in on a tray? Potatos, shipped by the truckload, directly from barges on the Snake River, and before that picked from the vast potato fields of Idaho -- direct to your hospital bed, as it has been for generations. And absolutely no lumps. Water Cress Medical Center mashed potatos are smooth going down the gullet.
Seriously. Seriously, the food is getting better at Water Cress -- fresher and not so overcooked. And sometimes they serve local potatos. Yes, our famous Skagit Valley red potatos, grown right here, and now served at the hospital for your dining pleasure. I am very pleased with this. As I said to one of the nurses, if the cooks got paid as well as the surgeons, we'd really have some good chow.
Appetite is a sign of well being. When you get sick and come to the hospital, you don't want to eat -- no delightful treat will tempt you. Even the smell of food becomes abhorrent. If you can get down a little jello or broth, that's good enough. But, when you start to get better, you get hungry again. That's when you need some really tasty food -- to catch that upswing and boost it with solid nourishment.
In the End. But it's not so easy to make nice food here. Let's consider the importance of elimination. Nursing and medical staff are incredibly interested in how much you pee, because if it's not working down there, you got a big problem, and that's a real medical fact. Where else can you get a round of applause for making water? So, how much you eat is not so much of a concern here.
Anyway, when you start asking for a pizza, you're getting better and you'll be home soon.
Waiting. Keith Bodell, in LaConner, had chest pains and called the ambulance on 911. Keith wasn't sure what the pain was, so he figured it was better to call. The ambulance came and they put him on the stretcher and wheeled him out the door. It's standard procedure -- if you call the ambulance, you have to take the stretcher, which is a bit of drama for the neighborhood.
But so what. Kevin gets to the ER at Water Cress and the doctors check him out. They run tests. He's fine, it might have been heartburn.
"Chest pains" are the magic words at the ER. You go right to the head of the line for that. No waiting. Top priority. Quicker treatment can make a huge difference in case of heart attack or stroke.
So it's like a good luck/bad luck thing. If you come to the ER with something serious and they tell you to wait, that's good. I mean, waiting is no fun, but why would you want to get to the head of the line? Like, "I'm dying, so I get to go first."
But, if you wait an hour or so, that means they think you're not too bad --- So be happy about that.
LaConner Weekly News. This week's issue has a great photo on page 4 of a teenage girl with a dazzling smile. Now, they just need some advertiser to step up to the plate and buy a color ad, so they can print photos like this in color. That's how it works. Color is beautiful but it isn't free.
Here's how to get color advertising in the local paper -- it's kind of round about but it might work. First, convince the people in Shelter Bay that they need to construct their own strip mall where the golf course is now -- including a small grocery store and gas station and a few other local necessities. This would save them a trip across the bridge. The commercial rents from a strip mall (with tasteful architecture, of course) would alleviate the increased lease payments that Shelter Bay residents currently face.
AND, if there was a small grocery store in Shelter Bay, it would be in competition with with the Pioneer Market in LaConner, AND both grocery stores would need to ADVERTISE in the local paper in order to get customers, and THEREFORE the LaConner Weekly News could that increased revenue to print pretty photos in color.
So, let's get started on this right now, and remember, nation building begins at home.
Serious. The farmers were at the coffee shop this morning. They can't get into the fields because of the incessant rain. The discussion was about rising fuel costs -- but the tone was different. It's not so much an abstract matter anymore where the guys are making points in a competitive free-for-all. It's getting closer to "what are we actually going to do about this?" I saw the first $4 per gallon gas prices up in Bellingham yesterday -- this concentrates the mind wonderfully.
It's about time America got resourceful. Nation building begins at home. Can do. Yankee know how. Don't wait for instructions from headquarters. Get started now.
Mashed Potatos. This week at Water Cress Medical Center, the cafeteria is featuring it's famous mashed potatos and brown gravy with Salisbury steak. Doesn't that bring back memories of times when you were too sick to move and they brought the food in on a tray? Potatos, shipped by the truckload, directly from barges on the Snake River, and before that picked from the vast potato fields of Idaho -- direct to your hospital bed, as it has been for generations. And absolutely no lumps. Water Cress Medical Center mashed potatos are smooth going down the gullet.
Seriously. Seriously, the food is getting better at Water Cress -- fresher and not so overcooked. And sometimes they serve local potatos. Yes, our famous Skagit Valley red potatos, grown right here, and now served at the hospital for your dining pleasure. I am very pleased with this. As I said to one of the nurses, if the cooks got paid as well as the surgeons, we'd really have some good chow.
Appetite is a sign of well being. When you get sick and come to the hospital, you don't want to eat -- no delightful treat will tempt you. Even the smell of food becomes abhorrent. If you can get down a little jello or broth, that's good enough. But, when you start to get better, you get hungry again. That's when you need some really tasty food -- to catch that upswing and boost it with solid nourishment.
In the End. But it's not so easy to make nice food here. Let's consider the importance of elimination. Nursing and medical staff are incredibly interested in how much you pee, because if it's not working down there, you got a big problem, and that's a real medical fact. Where else can you get a round of applause for making water? So, how much you eat is not so much of a concern here.
Anyway, when you start asking for a pizza, you're getting better and you'll be home soon.
Waiting. Keith Bodell, in LaConner, had chest pains and called the ambulance on 911. Keith wasn't sure what the pain was, so he figured it was better to call. The ambulance came and they put him on the stretcher and wheeled him out the door. It's standard procedure -- if you call the ambulance, you have to take the stretcher, which is a bit of drama for the neighborhood.
But so what. Kevin gets to the ER at Water Cress and the doctors check him out. They run tests. He's fine, it might have been heartburn.
"Chest pains" are the magic words at the ER. You go right to the head of the line for that. No waiting. Top priority. Quicker treatment can make a huge difference in case of heart attack or stroke.
So it's like a good luck/bad luck thing. If you come to the ER with something serious and they tell you to wait, that's good. I mean, waiting is no fun, but why would you want to get to the head of the line? Like, "I'm dying, so I get to go first."
But, if you wait an hour or so, that means they think you're not too bad --- So be happy about that.
LaConner Weekly News. This week's issue has a great photo on page 4 of a teenage girl with a dazzling smile. Now, they just need some advertiser to step up to the plate and buy a color ad, so they can print photos like this in color. That's how it works. Color is beautiful but it isn't free.
Here's how to get color advertising in the local paper -- it's kind of round about but it might work. First, convince the people in Shelter Bay that they need to construct their own strip mall where the golf course is now -- including a small grocery store and gas station and a few other local necessities. This would save them a trip across the bridge. The commercial rents from a strip mall (with tasteful architecture, of course) would alleviate the increased lease payments that Shelter Bay residents currently face.
AND, if there was a small grocery store in Shelter Bay, it would be in competition with with the Pioneer Market in LaConner, AND both grocery stores would need to ADVERTISE in the local paper in order to get customers, and THEREFORE the LaConner Weekly News could that increased revenue to print pretty photos in color.
So, let's get started on this right now, and remember, nation building begins at home.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Trucks
Trucks are coming back. With gas going beyond $4 per gallon, people are starting to use their trucks for hauling goods. There's a payoff when you take a load to the dump, or move furniture, or haul gardening supplies -- that's why you need a truck. And we have, in America, the most beautiful and best trucks in the world.
But for going to the store, or to visit your friends, or getting to work -- we're not going to use the truck for that anymore. If all you have to do is haul your own personal body from one place to another, you don't need your truck for that. You park the truck and use one of those lightweight vehicles.
However, you still might want to impress your friends with your size, power, and brawn -- a growling pickup serves that purpose, but it's getting too pricey, and you can find other ways.
You could take an 8-pound hammer and hold it out at arm's length. You could keep practicing on that until you could outlast every one in the county. That's man tough.
And you can still use your truck when you have stuff to haul.
A Cup of Sugar. Here's another suggestion for those of us who fear Al Gore's New World Order. The underlying premise is that you go can back in time just as easily as going forward. Let's say you need a cup of sugar to make some brownies, and you're out. Or it's in the evening, and you notice you don't have enough coffee for tomorrow morning.
You can jump in the car and drive to the store, OR you can go to your neighbor's house and borrow it -- saving you a trip.
Another idea is you could call your neighbor before you go to the store and ask her if she needs anything -- saving HER a trip to the store.
Of course, she might be a he, and the neighbors might be these nice Pakistani people who moved in two years ago and you've been waiting for an excuse to get to know them. Mahmood and Yalda, the Pakistani couple, seem like nice people. He's a chemical engineer, and she runs an eBay collectible business out of their home, and they have children, like yours, of a similar age.
That brings us to the next concept.
Go Outside and Play. After school, instead of driving your little tykes to Brownies and Pee Wee baseball, and then going to pick them up, you can just fix them a snack and tell them to go outside and play. "How do you do that?" the children might ask. "Well, go outside and play is something you figure out by yourself, and you do it with those nice children who live next door."
But you might have to teach them a few of the old games, or give them a ball to kick around.
In summary. Use your truck to haul stuff. Make practical arrangements with your neighbors and be friends with them. Tell the children to go outside and play. That's the Frog Hospital plan for a better America. Al Gore also has a plan. But the best plan is the one you make yourself.
Charlie Berg lived in the house that isn't there anymore. Charlie died twenty years ago. After that some kids moved into the house and started growing pot in the attic. They papered the attic with aluminum foil and strung up Gro-lights, and started growing their little plants. But the old house had the funkiest wiring in town, so this was a very dumb idea. Pretty soon the house caught on fire, and the pot plants and the funky wiring were discovered by the Volunteer Firemen. Afterward, the house was condemned, but I don't know if the kids were arrested. Everybody knew they were growing pot in the attic because LaConner is a very small town.
Either way, the house was finished and they tore it down. They put in a double-wide trailer and a guy who runs a locksmith business in his van lives there now.
But when Charlie Berg lived there it was different. He was the master recycler and junk collector of all LaConner. Charlie could compost a car if he wanted to. Anything he touched started growing moss. He could turn an air conditioner into a broom closet, and he always had this mysterious, far away look in his eyes -- he saw diamonds and jewels everywhere. What a rich country! and it was all free! and he just had to go pick it up in his truck and then pile it in the yard. He would figure out what to do with it later.
They changed the rules in heaven when Charlie got there -- they let him have all the old cars he wanted. He's up there now turning Oldsmobiles into picnic tables.
Charlie's widow, Beth Hailey, grows flowers out on Best Road, and she sells them around town. I often see her driving her flower truck. She's a very good friend, although I have never actually talked to her. I just say hello. It's a community where you get to know people that way.
The Chicken Coop. Adjunct to Charlie's palace was a spacious, low slung chicken coop with a wooden floor. It was for the overflow people, because Charlie didn't just bring home junk, he also brought home people, and they flopped in the chicken coop for weeks or months. I stayed there. Many people, who later became substantial citizens of LaConner, drifted through there a long time ago. It would be called substandard housing today, but there used to be a lot of that -- cheap or no rent, something you could fix up.
It Didn't Flood. That was the newspaper headline after the hot weather caused a big snow melt in the mountains, but the river ran very high just the same. So, I asked Jim Smith, "If the Skagit River didn't flood yesterday, how many other things didn't happen yesterday?" Jim thought that was a pretty spacey idea, a real conversation stopper.
But for going to the store, or to visit your friends, or getting to work -- we're not going to use the truck for that anymore. If all you have to do is haul your own personal body from one place to another, you don't need your truck for that. You park the truck and use one of those lightweight vehicles.
However, you still might want to impress your friends with your size, power, and brawn -- a growling pickup serves that purpose, but it's getting too pricey, and you can find other ways.
You could take an 8-pound hammer and hold it out at arm's length. You could keep practicing on that until you could outlast every one in the county. That's man tough.
And you can still use your truck when you have stuff to haul.
A Cup of Sugar. Here's another suggestion for those of us who fear Al Gore's New World Order. The underlying premise is that you go can back in time just as easily as going forward. Let's say you need a cup of sugar to make some brownies, and you're out. Or it's in the evening, and you notice you don't have enough coffee for tomorrow morning.
You can jump in the car and drive to the store, OR you can go to your neighbor's house and borrow it -- saving you a trip.
Another idea is you could call your neighbor before you go to the store and ask her if she needs anything -- saving HER a trip to the store.
Of course, she might be a he, and the neighbors might be these nice Pakistani people who moved in two years ago and you've been waiting for an excuse to get to know them. Mahmood and Yalda, the Pakistani couple, seem like nice people. He's a chemical engineer, and she runs an eBay collectible business out of their home, and they have children, like yours, of a similar age.
That brings us to the next concept.
Go Outside and Play. After school, instead of driving your little tykes to Brownies and Pee Wee baseball, and then going to pick them up, you can just fix them a snack and tell them to go outside and play. "How do you do that?" the children might ask. "Well, go outside and play is something you figure out by yourself, and you do it with those nice children who live next door."
But you might have to teach them a few of the old games, or give them a ball to kick around.
In summary. Use your truck to haul stuff. Make practical arrangements with your neighbors and be friends with them. Tell the children to go outside and play. That's the Frog Hospital plan for a better America. Al Gore also has a plan. But the best plan is the one you make yourself.
Charlie Berg lived in the house that isn't there anymore. Charlie died twenty years ago. After that some kids moved into the house and started growing pot in the attic. They papered the attic with aluminum foil and strung up Gro-lights, and started growing their little plants. But the old house had the funkiest wiring in town, so this was a very dumb idea. Pretty soon the house caught on fire, and the pot plants and the funky wiring were discovered by the Volunteer Firemen. Afterward, the house was condemned, but I don't know if the kids were arrested. Everybody knew they were growing pot in the attic because LaConner is a very small town.
Either way, the house was finished and they tore it down. They put in a double-wide trailer and a guy who runs a locksmith business in his van lives there now.
But when Charlie Berg lived there it was different. He was the master recycler and junk collector of all LaConner. Charlie could compost a car if he wanted to. Anything he touched started growing moss. He could turn an air conditioner into a broom closet, and he always had this mysterious, far away look in his eyes -- he saw diamonds and jewels everywhere. What a rich country! and it was all free! and he just had to go pick it up in his truck and then pile it in the yard. He would figure out what to do with it later.
They changed the rules in heaven when Charlie got there -- they let him have all the old cars he wanted. He's up there now turning Oldsmobiles into picnic tables.
Charlie's widow, Beth Hailey, grows flowers out on Best Road, and she sells them around town. I often see her driving her flower truck. She's a very good friend, although I have never actually talked to her. I just say hello. It's a community where you get to know people that way.
The Chicken Coop. Adjunct to Charlie's palace was a spacious, low slung chicken coop with a wooden floor. It was for the overflow people, because Charlie didn't just bring home junk, he also brought home people, and they flopped in the chicken coop for weeks or months. I stayed there. Many people, who later became substantial citizens of LaConner, drifted through there a long time ago. It would be called substandard housing today, but there used to be a lot of that -- cheap or no rent, something you could fix up.
It Didn't Flood. That was the newspaper headline after the hot weather caused a big snow melt in the mountains, but the river ran very high just the same. So, I asked Jim Smith, "If the Skagit River didn't flood yesterday, how many other things didn't happen yesterday?" Jim thought that was a pretty spacey idea, a real conversation stopper.
Monday, May 19, 2008
The Candidates
THE CANDIDATES. I suspect that, deep down inside, Senators Obama and McCain actually like each other.
National security. National security is the only issue that really matters in selecting a President. Senator Hillary Clinton was very right to bring up that point in her "Who will answer the phone at 3 a.m.?" commercial. It's the most important question, and it wasn't fear mongering for her to broach that subject.
We don't need a President to fix our economic and health care problems. We don't need a President to decide social questions about marriage, or legal questions about gun ownership.
The President has to get only one thing right -- keeping our nation safe. Senator Obama is the one who has been right about national security. He took a clear position in opposition to the invasion of Iraq and he has kept that position, and that gives us our best chance.
Obama hasn't promised results as far as I know. There is no "End the War" button in the Oval Office. The war in the Middle East has gone on for generations. It will continue until the Moslem population learns to love the Jews in their midst, and it will continue until we take the oil weapon out of the hands of Arab despots.
Keep Obama Real. It has been easy for me to restrain my enthusiasm for Obama. My job is to keep him real. When he formally clinches the nomination, the media is going to lay on the hype as thick as whipped cream. I sure hope he doesn't believe it. He's a guy from the South Side of Chicago, and he might make a good President.
Old John. Old John McCain is a far different man than George Bush, and a better man too. I am not hellbent on his defeat.
A Polarized Nation. We are not. I am not polarized. I have widespread friendships across the country and across the political spectrum. I am not mad at any one -- except I was mad at Hillary last month, but I got over that.
What to think. I don't know what to think about same sex marriage, but then I realized that thinking wasn't necessary -- the California Supreme Court relieved me of that burden.
Frog Hospital Dating Service. I got a call from Teddy Olensky in Boston asking me for dating advice. He's an old pal from when I used to live there, but he was calling me now because he just signed up for JDATE -- that's an Internet dating service for Jews.
Last month I said to him -- go ahead and try JDATE, for $4o bucks you might meet someone. So he put up his photo and his profile. Teddy has got big ears, like Barak Obama. He has a manly look and a warm-hearted smile. So he put up his photo and got lots of hits from women all over the country.
This made him happy because when he called me he kept laughing. I said to him -- well, it's flattering to get so many emails from interested women, but most of them are just interested in chatting.
"I mean, Teddy, are you looking for an email friend, or some woman you actually want to meet and start a relationship with?" I said.
"Oh, I don't want to be just friends," he said.
So you need to pass them up, I said. Except for one, she was a Jewish woman from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Teddy said he was very struck by her messages and felt quite an attraction to her.
"I felt like just jumping on a plane to meet her," he said.
I reflected on this. The woman is Jewish, she wants to meet and date a Jewish man, yet she lives in a small city in the Deep South, and has few contacts with the kind of man she would like to meet. So I decided she might be a serious person, not just interested in email chatting. And, as impractical as it might be, two people can begin a relationship from a distance and still find love and happiness. My belief is that doors begin to open for couples who are truly meant for each other.
But don't forget the local girls, I told him. He said, yes, he was going to meet a woman the next day for coffee -- and you never know what might happen.
Further advice. Some people say that Internet dating is dumb. Yes, that's because dating is dumb. Dating is like being in high school. But that's what we do -- we make an effort to meet someone, we put on a smile and face that awkward moment.
And it doesn't work. Nothing works. You meet someone when you're supposed to meet someone, not a day sooner. But while you're waiting, you need to be doing something, which is why they invented dating.
What do I know? It's funny that Teddy calls me for dating advice -- it's the blind leading the blind. I know nothing about romance. Experience is no benefit. I wouldn't know how to get a date if I fell off a truck. I see all kinds of attractive women at the hospital where I work, but I can't think of anything to say.
I go to Haagen's supermarket in Mount Vernon, because the groceries are so good there. Plus, it's a good place to meet women, especially in the produce section. The presence of fruit and vegetables encourages me and I feel stronger. I think women like that.
National security. National security is the only issue that really matters in selecting a President. Senator Hillary Clinton was very right to bring up that point in her "Who will answer the phone at 3 a.m.?" commercial. It's the most important question, and it wasn't fear mongering for her to broach that subject.
We don't need a President to fix our economic and health care problems. We don't need a President to decide social questions about marriage, or legal questions about gun ownership.
The President has to get only one thing right -- keeping our nation safe. Senator Obama is the one who has been right about national security. He took a clear position in opposition to the invasion of Iraq and he has kept that position, and that gives us our best chance.
Obama hasn't promised results as far as I know. There is no "End the War" button in the Oval Office. The war in the Middle East has gone on for generations. It will continue until the Moslem population learns to love the Jews in their midst, and it will continue until we take the oil weapon out of the hands of Arab despots.
Keep Obama Real. It has been easy for me to restrain my enthusiasm for Obama. My job is to keep him real. When he formally clinches the nomination, the media is going to lay on the hype as thick as whipped cream. I sure hope he doesn't believe it. He's a guy from the South Side of Chicago, and he might make a good President.
Old John. Old John McCain is a far different man than George Bush, and a better man too. I am not hellbent on his defeat.
A Polarized Nation. We are not. I am not polarized. I have widespread friendships across the country and across the political spectrum. I am not mad at any one -- except I was mad at Hillary last month, but I got over that.
What to think. I don't know what to think about same sex marriage, but then I realized that thinking wasn't necessary -- the California Supreme Court relieved me of that burden.
Frog Hospital Dating Service. I got a call from Teddy Olensky in Boston asking me for dating advice. He's an old pal from when I used to live there, but he was calling me now because he just signed up for JDATE -- that's an Internet dating service for Jews.
Last month I said to him -- go ahead and try JDATE, for $4o bucks you might meet someone. So he put up his photo and his profile. Teddy has got big ears, like Barak Obama. He has a manly look and a warm-hearted smile. So he put up his photo and got lots of hits from women all over the country.
This made him happy because when he called me he kept laughing. I said to him -- well, it's flattering to get so many emails from interested women, but most of them are just interested in chatting.
"I mean, Teddy, are you looking for an email friend, or some woman you actually want to meet and start a relationship with?" I said.
"Oh, I don't want to be just friends," he said.
So you need to pass them up, I said. Except for one, she was a Jewish woman from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Teddy said he was very struck by her messages and felt quite an attraction to her.
"I felt like just jumping on a plane to meet her," he said.
I reflected on this. The woman is Jewish, she wants to meet and date a Jewish man, yet she lives in a small city in the Deep South, and has few contacts with the kind of man she would like to meet. So I decided she might be a serious person, not just interested in email chatting. And, as impractical as it might be, two people can begin a relationship from a distance and still find love and happiness. My belief is that doors begin to open for couples who are truly meant for each other.
But don't forget the local girls, I told him. He said, yes, he was going to meet a woman the next day for coffee -- and you never know what might happen.
Further advice. Some people say that Internet dating is dumb. Yes, that's because dating is dumb. Dating is like being in high school. But that's what we do -- we make an effort to meet someone, we put on a smile and face that awkward moment.
And it doesn't work. Nothing works. You meet someone when you're supposed to meet someone, not a day sooner. But while you're waiting, you need to be doing something, which is why they invented dating.
What do I know? It's funny that Teddy calls me for dating advice -- it's the blind leading the blind. I know nothing about romance. Experience is no benefit. I wouldn't know how to get a date if I fell off a truck. I see all kinds of attractive women at the hospital where I work, but I can't think of anything to say.
I go to Haagen's supermarket in Mount Vernon, because the groceries are so good there. Plus, it's a good place to meet women, especially in the produce section. The presence of fruit and vegetables encourages me and I feel stronger. I think women like that.
Friday, May 16, 2008
I am that man
I am that man
I finally got over high school. I was walking down the street from the LaConner post office, and it just happened, like 44 years later. I immediately told John at the bookstore, "Hey, John, I just got over high school." And he replied, "Well, I haven't."
And you all know what I mean. High school was hell, and the resentment was almost permanent. But I'm over it now -- through no effort on my part, so I'll call it a miracle of divine intervention.
The high school was Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois -- an all boys Catholic school. The student population swelled to 1,600 when I got there in 1960, thanks to the baby boom. The Jesuit order ran the school. They were zealous and demanding. They had me spotted for a wise guy and they pounced on me every day. I didn't have any friends either.
But Loyola was academically sound. The priests taught me how to write and how to think, and I am grateful for that.
I found this essay in some old papers. I wrote it when I was a senior in 1964. This was the part I truly believed. I still believe it. I am that man.
The Value of a Liberal Education
What is a liberal education? What is its goal? Why does the Catholic educational system wholeheartedly subscribe to it? These questions have and will be asked many times, by laymen in the Church and outside of it. The answer is simple. The answer has been drilled into me as long as I have been attending Loyola: the development of the whole man, the integer homo.
The whole man, the completely educated man, if he does exist, is the man who has knowledge of the whole truth. The closer a man comes to knowing the whole truth, to having real wisdom, the more complete he is in the eyes of God. The whole man, the man who has concomitantly studied religion, literature, and science, can better cope with moral matters; he has a better chance of reaching total wisdom and understanding after death: the Beatific Vision.
The concept of a liberal education differs radically from that of educators who see little value in the mental discipline of the traditional subjects, and who would make the primary end of education be social adjustment or the direct preparation for the physical life. While it is silly to say that liberally educated men are totally unprepared for such matters as making a living, holding down a well-paying job, and being an enlightened citizen in this democracy, these matters are only by-products of the integer homo.
It is the liberal education which gives a man a clear, conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them. It teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to disentangle a confusion of thought, to detect the sophistic argument, and to discard the irrelevant. While this type of education does not prepare him for the specifics of business or computer science, it prepares him to fulfill any job with credit and to master any subject with facility. The liberally educated man is at home in any society because he has an understanding of them all. He has common ground with any class. He knows how to converse intelligently and, more important, when to remain silent. He learns the humility of Socrates and Christ, the perseverance of Sysiphus, the cunning of Odysseus, and the loyalty of pius Aeneas.
The liberally educated man has a gift which serves him in public and the privacy of his own conscience. It will support him when he is young, middle-aged and senile. It will serve him most of all in the next life.
I finally got over high school. I was walking down the street from the LaConner post office, and it just happened, like 44 years later. I immediately told John at the bookstore, "Hey, John, I just got over high school." And he replied, "Well, I haven't."
And you all know what I mean. High school was hell, and the resentment was almost permanent. But I'm over it now -- through no effort on my part, so I'll call it a miracle of divine intervention.
The high school was Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois -- an all boys Catholic school. The student population swelled to 1,600 when I got there in 1960, thanks to the baby boom. The Jesuit order ran the school. They were zealous and demanding. They had me spotted for a wise guy and they pounced on me every day. I didn't have any friends either.
But Loyola was academically sound. The priests taught me how to write and how to think, and I am grateful for that.
I found this essay in some old papers. I wrote it when I was a senior in 1964. This was the part I truly believed. I still believe it. I am that man.
The Value of a Liberal Education
What is a liberal education? What is its goal? Why does the Catholic educational system wholeheartedly subscribe to it? These questions have and will be asked many times, by laymen in the Church and outside of it. The answer is simple. The answer has been drilled into me as long as I have been attending Loyola: the development of the whole man, the integer homo.
The whole man, the completely educated man, if he does exist, is the man who has knowledge of the whole truth. The closer a man comes to knowing the whole truth, to having real wisdom, the more complete he is in the eyes of God. The whole man, the man who has concomitantly studied religion, literature, and science, can better cope with moral matters; he has a better chance of reaching total wisdom and understanding after death: the Beatific Vision.
The concept of a liberal education differs radically from that of educators who see little value in the mental discipline of the traditional subjects, and who would make the primary end of education be social adjustment or the direct preparation for the physical life. While it is silly to say that liberally educated men are totally unprepared for such matters as making a living, holding down a well-paying job, and being an enlightened citizen in this democracy, these matters are only by-products of the integer homo.
It is the liberal education which gives a man a clear, conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in urging them. It teaches him to see things as they are, to go right to the point, to disentangle a confusion of thought, to detect the sophistic argument, and to discard the irrelevant. While this type of education does not prepare him for the specifics of business or computer science, it prepares him to fulfill any job with credit and to master any subject with facility. The liberally educated man is at home in any society because he has an understanding of them all. He has common ground with any class. He knows how to converse intelligently and, more important, when to remain silent. He learns the humility of Socrates and Christ, the perseverance of Sysiphus, the cunning of Odysseus, and the loyalty of pius Aeneas.
The liberally educated man has a gift which serves him in public and the privacy of his own conscience. It will support him when he is young, middle-aged and senile. It will serve him most of all in the next life.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Rednecks
My definition of a redneck is "a man who takes pride in his ignorance."
I based this definition on a man I met in 1977. I got a job at a sawmill in Lee's Ferry, which was about twenty miles out into the woods, outside of Vickburg, Mississippi. They put me on the line and they told me to do whatever Albert said, and he was the dumbest guy I ever met. The first thing he did was double the speed of the line until I got buried in half-sawn boards. Then he would stop the line and help me back on my feet, while the rest of the crew had a good laugh.
After a week of this Albert challenged me to a head-banging contest. I declined, but he said I was chicken, and I figured he would bother me until I said yes. I stalled so I could figure out a way to lose the contest and not get hurt. I knew I better not win, because then Albert would want to do it again. So we started banging our heads together harder and harder. I figured if I hurt myself just bad enough, he would let me lose, and then we wouldn't have to do that again.
The sawmill was in kind of a backwoods situation. It was closed down on the opening day of squirrel hunting season. It actually takes brains to hunt a squirrel -- there's nothing wrong with that.
But I'm talking about Albert -- he was the dumbest man I ever met.
I just remembered this because Hillary Clinton has all the rednecks voting for her. So, if you're ignorant and proud of it, I guess she's your gal.
But I'm voting for the smart guy.
MY CAR. I don't believe in personal attachment to vehicles, but it happened anyway. I love my car. It's a 1993 red Toyota Corolla -- I don't give it a name, I won't go that far, but I have developed quite an attachment.
I bought it four years ago from a man in Bellingham. It cost me $2,900, when the car had 130,000 miles on it.
This Toyota was the first car I ever owned which wasn't a Ford or Chevy, so I was crossing the line.
I basically lived in the Toyota for the next three years -- lived out of it, I mean -- camping and travelling and staying with friends and relatives. We drove all over the country -- to Texas, California, Ohio, and New England -- it was a beautiful car. Back then, in 'o4 and 'o5, gas was cheap and we just flew over the highway
The seats were just right -- I could drive 12 hours at a stretch and my butt would never get sore. Nothing ever broke. I just changed the oil every 3,000 miles. And it looked so pretty when I washed and waxed it.
It's four years later now. The Toyota has 220,00 miles on it. It has a few small dents, it doesn't polish up so well, the upholstery has a few spots and signs of wear, and there's a crack in the windshield -- all these things add up.
But it still runs as good as it ever did, and I still love it. People say a Toyota will go to 300,000 miles easily.
This is pathetic -- writing about my car. I really need a girl friend.
A GOOD-LOOKING NEWSPAPER FOR LACONNER. With all due respect to Alan Pentz, the founder of the Channeltown Press, he published one heck of an ugly newspaper. He had a bitter, black sense of humor and he hated art and poetry -- feared it, actually. The current owners have not been able to revise Pentz's misanthropic vision.
In contrast, the Puget Sound Mail, which is the old, original, and true newspaper for LaConner, has always been as good-looking and as optimistic as the community it served. Previous publishers -- Pat O'Leary, Bonnie McDade, Dick Fallis, and myself -- put out a paper that was bright and cheerful. McDade published a very nice-looking paper in the early 1980's featuring Art Hupy's candid photography. Dick Fallis was short on business sense, but he had some interesting ideas. And Pat O'Leary was an editor and publisher of legendary proportions.
My own effort at the Puget Sound Mail was at least cheerful. And it was good-looking too. Helen Farias was the graphic designer, and she was the best in the Skagit Valley.
A good-looking town like LaConner deserves a good-looking paper with an optimistic outlook.
I based this definition on a man I met in 1977. I got a job at a sawmill in Lee's Ferry, which was about twenty miles out into the woods, outside of Vickburg, Mississippi. They put me on the line and they told me to do whatever Albert said, and he was the dumbest guy I ever met. The first thing he did was double the speed of the line until I got buried in half-sawn boards. Then he would stop the line and help me back on my feet, while the rest of the crew had a good laugh.
After a week of this Albert challenged me to a head-banging contest. I declined, but he said I was chicken, and I figured he would bother me until I said yes. I stalled so I could figure out a way to lose the contest and not get hurt. I knew I better not win, because then Albert would want to do it again. So we started banging our heads together harder and harder. I figured if I hurt myself just bad enough, he would let me lose, and then we wouldn't have to do that again.
The sawmill was in kind of a backwoods situation. It was closed down on the opening day of squirrel hunting season. It actually takes brains to hunt a squirrel -- there's nothing wrong with that.
But I'm talking about Albert -- he was the dumbest man I ever met.
I just remembered this because Hillary Clinton has all the rednecks voting for her. So, if you're ignorant and proud of it, I guess she's your gal.
But I'm voting for the smart guy.
MY CAR. I don't believe in personal attachment to vehicles, but it happened anyway. I love my car. It's a 1993 red Toyota Corolla -- I don't give it a name, I won't go that far, but I have developed quite an attachment.
I bought it four years ago from a man in Bellingham. It cost me $2,900, when the car had 130,000 miles on it.
This Toyota was the first car I ever owned which wasn't a Ford or Chevy, so I was crossing the line.
I basically lived in the Toyota for the next three years -- lived out of it, I mean -- camping and travelling and staying with friends and relatives. We drove all over the country -- to Texas, California, Ohio, and New England -- it was a beautiful car. Back then, in 'o4 and 'o5, gas was cheap and we just flew over the highway
The seats were just right -- I could drive 12 hours at a stretch and my butt would never get sore. Nothing ever broke. I just changed the oil every 3,000 miles. And it looked so pretty when I washed and waxed it.
It's four years later now. The Toyota has 220,00 miles on it. It has a few small dents, it doesn't polish up so well, the upholstery has a few spots and signs of wear, and there's a crack in the windshield -- all these things add up.
But it still runs as good as it ever did, and I still love it. People say a Toyota will go to 300,000 miles easily.
This is pathetic -- writing about my car. I really need a girl friend.
A GOOD-LOOKING NEWSPAPER FOR LACONNER. With all due respect to Alan Pentz, the founder of the Channeltown Press, he published one heck of an ugly newspaper. He had a bitter, black sense of humor and he hated art and poetry -- feared it, actually. The current owners have not been able to revise Pentz's misanthropic vision.
In contrast, the Puget Sound Mail, which is the old, original, and true newspaper for LaConner, has always been as good-looking and as optimistic as the community it served. Previous publishers -- Pat O'Leary, Bonnie McDade, Dick Fallis, and myself -- put out a paper that was bright and cheerful. McDade published a very nice-looking paper in the early 1980's featuring Art Hupy's candid photography. Dick Fallis was short on business sense, but he had some interesting ideas. And Pat O'Leary was an editor and publisher of legendary proportions.
My own effort at the Puget Sound Mail was at least cheerful. And it was good-looking too. Helen Farias was the graphic designer, and she was the best in the Skagit Valley.
A good-looking town like LaConner deserves a good-looking paper with an optimistic outlook.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Truth
TRUTH: If we were not so over extended in Iraq and Afghanistan, we could easily overthrow the dictators in Burma and Zimbabwe -- it wouldn't take a week.
A SAYING: When you're really good, you don't waste your time trying to get better.
I made up this saying on Saturday afternoon while watching the Fanny Alger band playing at Quinn Thompson's 45th birthday party out at Rexville. Fanny Alger is my favorite rock band -- they make noise, they bang on the drum, they jump up and down -- they ain't trying to get better, they're too good for that.
SCOOP: Frog Hospital scooped the Skagit Valley Herald on the crop forecast. The Herald had a story in their Sunday edition about how the cold spring weather will likely cause a poor yield for local farmers -- but we put that same news out on Saturday afternoon. Of course, several editors and reporters at the Herald read the Frog Hospital -- maybe that's how they found out.
LITTLE IMPROVEMENT: The Channeltown Press, LaConner's weekly newspaper, came up with the brilliant idea of changing their name to the LaConner Weekly News. They also gave themselves a graphic design makeover. Our impression is that they don't look any better than they used to. It's a dull but competent newspaper -- competent in that they publish a decent summary of the week's news in this small community, but needlessly dull.
What LaConner needs is a lively newspaper -- gay friendly, pro-agriculture, and anti-Wal-Mart/big box -- those three editorial themes would resound strongly throughout the community and increase the paper's ad revenue.
But the paper's biggest shortcoming is the editor's failure to appreciate art. Aesthetic judgment is essential in a town that prides itself artistically, but is woefully lacking at the LaConner Weekly News.
GOODBYE: It's goodbye to Rush Limbaugh. This right wing blow hard has made a living for 16 years by creating anti-Clinton hostility. When Hillary and Bill make their expected departure from the national stage, Rush Limbaugh will have no reason to live. Isn't that sweet?
DECENT: I'm serious about a decent campaign between McCain and Obama. I want to see both men at their best -- so we can get the best President. My idea is that the two candidates should make a mutual agreement -- to campaign as hard as they can, but each to go home and take a break on one day each week. It's better if they both stay rested -- you make better decisions that way
Otherwise you end up with a President so worn-out he's like a machine.
JOHN F. KENNEDY. The last time West Virginia had a primary that mattered was 1960, when JFK battled with HHH, Hubert Horatio Humphrey, the Senator from Minnesota. Kennedy swept the state and went on to the nomination.
I remember the 1960 campaign. I was 14. I went to a Kennedy rally near my suburban Chicago home. I greeted him as he jumped out of a limousine into a roaring crowd. Kennedy had to fight his way through the crowd like it was a rugby match, with everybody trying to pound him on the back. The air was electric with excitement.
After the rally I picked up a few "Kennedy for President bumper stickers," which I could not use at the time because I was too young to drive and my folks did not share my enthusiasm for that candidate. So I put the bumper stickers away.
I found them a few days ago, going through a box of old things. Since I had two of them, I decided to use one of them now. If you see my red 1993 Toyota around the valley, look for a "Kennedy for President" sticker on the back bumper -- it's an original.
TOUGH: Barak Obama is the toughest man in America. Obama is tougher than Vladimir Putin. Obama is so tough he doesn't even act tough -- he doesn't need to.
A SAYING: When you're really good, you don't waste your time trying to get better.
I made up this saying on Saturday afternoon while watching the Fanny Alger band playing at Quinn Thompson's 45th birthday party out at Rexville. Fanny Alger is my favorite rock band -- they make noise, they bang on the drum, they jump up and down -- they ain't trying to get better, they're too good for that.
SCOOP: Frog Hospital scooped the Skagit Valley Herald on the crop forecast. The Herald had a story in their Sunday edition about how the cold spring weather will likely cause a poor yield for local farmers -- but we put that same news out on Saturday afternoon. Of course, several editors and reporters at the Herald read the Frog Hospital -- maybe that's how they found out.
LITTLE IMPROVEMENT: The Channeltown Press, LaConner's weekly newspaper, came up with the brilliant idea of changing their name to the LaConner Weekly News. They also gave themselves a graphic design makeover. Our impression is that they don't look any better than they used to. It's a dull but competent newspaper -- competent in that they publish a decent summary of the week's news in this small community, but needlessly dull.
What LaConner needs is a lively newspaper -- gay friendly, pro-agriculture, and anti-Wal-Mart/big box -- those three editorial themes would resound strongly throughout the community and increase the paper's ad revenue.
But the paper's biggest shortcoming is the editor's failure to appreciate art. Aesthetic judgment is essential in a town that prides itself artistically, but is woefully lacking at the LaConner Weekly News.
GOODBYE: It's goodbye to Rush Limbaugh. This right wing blow hard has made a living for 16 years by creating anti-Clinton hostility. When Hillary and Bill make their expected departure from the national stage, Rush Limbaugh will have no reason to live. Isn't that sweet?
DECENT: I'm serious about a decent campaign between McCain and Obama. I want to see both men at their best -- so we can get the best President. My idea is that the two candidates should make a mutual agreement -- to campaign as hard as they can, but each to go home and take a break on one day each week. It's better if they both stay rested -- you make better decisions that way
Otherwise you end up with a President so worn-out he's like a machine.
JOHN F. KENNEDY. The last time West Virginia had a primary that mattered was 1960, when JFK battled with HHH, Hubert Horatio Humphrey, the Senator from Minnesota. Kennedy swept the state and went on to the nomination.
I remember the 1960 campaign. I was 14. I went to a Kennedy rally near my suburban Chicago home. I greeted him as he jumped out of a limousine into a roaring crowd. Kennedy had to fight his way through the crowd like it was a rugby match, with everybody trying to pound him on the back. The air was electric with excitement.
After the rally I picked up a few "Kennedy for President bumper stickers," which I could not use at the time because I was too young to drive and my folks did not share my enthusiasm for that candidate. So I put the bumper stickers away.
I found them a few days ago, going through a box of old things. Since I had two of them, I decided to use one of them now. If you see my red 1993 Toyota around the valley, look for a "Kennedy for President" sticker on the back bumper -- it's an original.
TOUGH: Barak Obama is the toughest man in America. Obama is tougher than Vladimir Putin. Obama is so tough he doesn't even act tough -- he doesn't need to.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Ground Rules
I missed a couple of news cycles. Things were happening too fast and I couldn't keep up, and the Clintons were driving me crazy.
But it's all worked out. Obama has prevailed and my equanimity has been restored. Let us not forget, even if you don't support Senator Obama, that he has two equally important responsibilities. One is to be the Democratic candidate for President. The other is to be a father to his two young daughters.
I don't think Senator Obama is right about everything and he is not the savior of our country, but I will go a long way to protect his privacy and his dual role. The fatigue that was showing on his face last week was obvious to many -- he has more to do than to race from airport to airport. He also has to read bedtime stories. And when Michelle Obama talks about the sacrifices they are making on this campaign, she means the loss of family time.
So, give these people a rest, and that goes for John McCain and his family as well. He has a boy in the service in Iraq. That weighs on his mind as much as becoming President.
With that in mind, and with the two nominations being fairly settled -- this is a very good time to take stock and to get off the frantic pace.
A few ground rules or in order: Age is not an issue. John McCain is not too old to be President. Cindy McCain won't reveal her income taxes. Neither did an equally wealthy Teresa Heinz reveal her income taxes in 2004. The men and women serving in Iraq are not stupid farm boys. They are educated, intelligent, and motivated -- as is John McCain. They say McCain has a hot temper, but that doesn't mean much, unless you're on his personal staff.
As for Senator Obama, charges that he is unpatriotic, un-American, and elitist should be fiercely resisted. He's from Chicago. He's not a country boy. I live in a rural area myself, but the idea that country people are truer folks is completely wrong. Obama plays basketball -- that's a city game. He plays hoop and other people shoot ducks -- fine. Most of our population is urban, despite the Jeffersonian myth, and pandering to the "rural elite" is a phony ploy.
CHANGE OF SUBJECT. Madonna, at age 50, having borne two children, is going on tour again, so her picture is on all the magazine covers -- her new "figure" is unveiled. It is so unattractive. She has somehow acquired the body of a prepubescent androgynous 12-year-old. The new mechanical Madonna body is presented like a styling change in Detroit when they had new models every year. This year she is anorexic, unlovely, unnatural, and anti-erotic. Where is the pasta? She is a disgrace to Italian woman everywhere.
Many women I know are 50 years old and older, and have born one or several children and the variety of their figures is very appealing. But I suspect those women aren't Madonna fans anyway.
It's the kids who look at Madonna's cover shot and think, "If I starved myself, and lived on wheat grass, and hired a personal trainer, and had a little work done, then I could look like Madonna."
Dreadful..... I like real Italian, but then I remember Sophia Loren.
COLD SPRING. Farmer Dave confirms that the Skagit Valley is having it's coldest spring since 1982 -- according to figures at the research station. It hasn't rained that much, but it sure has been cold, and the farmers are three weeks behind in the planting because the fields haven't dried up enough. Still, Farmer Dave says he has to plant now, but he feels guilty about that because running a tractor across a muddy field compacts the soil in a bad way.
Compacted soil is bad -- light, fluffy soil is what you want.
The berry crops -- blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries -- should come in fine, but they will be late.
But the potato crop is a worry, and that is the principle money-maker around here. Planting three weeks late in the spring does not mean that the weather gods will give you three weeks grace in the fall when the spuds are harvested. A shorter season means a poorer crop.
And potatoes are getting VERY important -- with rising food prices and all that. The time will come when people don't come up here to see the tulips -- they'll come up here to watch the potatoes grow and be very thankful that we have so much to eat.
But it's all worked out. Obama has prevailed and my equanimity has been restored. Let us not forget, even if you don't support Senator Obama, that he has two equally important responsibilities. One is to be the Democratic candidate for President. The other is to be a father to his two young daughters.
I don't think Senator Obama is right about everything and he is not the savior of our country, but I will go a long way to protect his privacy and his dual role. The fatigue that was showing on his face last week was obvious to many -- he has more to do than to race from airport to airport. He also has to read bedtime stories. And when Michelle Obama talks about the sacrifices they are making on this campaign, she means the loss of family time.
So, give these people a rest, and that goes for John McCain and his family as well. He has a boy in the service in Iraq. That weighs on his mind as much as becoming President.
With that in mind, and with the two nominations being fairly settled -- this is a very good time to take stock and to get off the frantic pace.
A few ground rules or in order: Age is not an issue. John McCain is not too old to be President. Cindy McCain won't reveal her income taxes. Neither did an equally wealthy Teresa Heinz reveal her income taxes in 2004. The men and women serving in Iraq are not stupid farm boys. They are educated, intelligent, and motivated -- as is John McCain. They say McCain has a hot temper, but that doesn't mean much, unless you're on his personal staff.
As for Senator Obama, charges that he is unpatriotic, un-American, and elitist should be fiercely resisted. He's from Chicago. He's not a country boy. I live in a rural area myself, but the idea that country people are truer folks is completely wrong. Obama plays basketball -- that's a city game. He plays hoop and other people shoot ducks -- fine. Most of our population is urban, despite the Jeffersonian myth, and pandering to the "rural elite" is a phony ploy.
CHANGE OF SUBJECT. Madonna, at age 50, having borne two children, is going on tour again, so her picture is on all the magazine covers -- her new "figure" is unveiled. It is so unattractive. She has somehow acquired the body of a prepubescent androgynous 12-year-old. The new mechanical Madonna body is presented like a styling change in Detroit when they had new models every year. This year she is anorexic, unlovely, unnatural, and anti-erotic. Where is the pasta? She is a disgrace to Italian woman everywhere.
Many women I know are 50 years old and older, and have born one or several children and the variety of their figures is very appealing. But I suspect those women aren't Madonna fans anyway.
It's the kids who look at Madonna's cover shot and think, "If I starved myself, and lived on wheat grass, and hired a personal trainer, and had a little work done, then I could look like Madonna."
Dreadful..... I like real Italian, but then I remember Sophia Loren.
COLD SPRING. Farmer Dave confirms that the Skagit Valley is having it's coldest spring since 1982 -- according to figures at the research station. It hasn't rained that much, but it sure has been cold, and the farmers are three weeks behind in the planting because the fields haven't dried up enough. Still, Farmer Dave says he has to plant now, but he feels guilty about that because running a tractor across a muddy field compacts the soil in a bad way.
Compacted soil is bad -- light, fluffy soil is what you want.
The berry crops -- blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries -- should come in fine, but they will be late.
But the potato crop is a worry, and that is the principle money-maker around here. Planting three weeks late in the spring does not mean that the weather gods will give you three weeks grace in the fall when the spuds are harvested. A shorter season means a poorer crop.
And potatoes are getting VERY important -- with rising food prices and all that. The time will come when people don't come up here to see the tulips -- they'll come up here to watch the potatoes grow and be very thankful that we have so much to eat.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Not in a Million Years
So, if Barak Obama fails to get the Democratic nomination, I will then reluctantly support Hillary Clinton........ Are you kidding? Not in a million years I won't. Don't even ask. There are so very few things in politics that I am sure of -- but this is one of them -- no Clinton, no Bush, and no Kennedy will ever get my vote -- I am so firmly opposed to family dynasties.
In the case of the Clintons -- they are trying to sneak around the 22nd Amendment which limits the President to two terms. The 22nd Amendment was passed by a Republican-controlled Congress in 1951 in revenge against the four-terms of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The two-term custom was established by our first President, George Washington. FDR broke that custom in 1940 when he ran for a 3rd term. It was a radical move, but with World War II on the horizon, I would have supported his decision, and I would have supported his 4th term as well.
But Hillary and Bill Clinton are not extraordinary people -- I'm quite sure of that. They are just trying to sneak back into the White House, and to make an end run around the 22nd Amendment.
The Clintons are driven to obsession by a need to get back to the White House -- they have established no other home. Politics is their joint addiction, otherwise they can't stand each other. This is a very unhealthy couple. I couldn't vote for them -- I say this calmly.
I have worked so hard on maintaining a detached equanimity with regard to politics. I pride myself on my ability to listen to anybody -- even Rush Limbaugh -- without an increase in blood pressure. Although for Rush, I have to limit my exposure to no more than ten minutes.
I have travelled the country and mixed with people from all parts of the political spectrum -- and I'm always calm.
However, I must admit that I succumbed to a flash of anti-Clinton hostility these past few weeks. It was Hillary calling Barak Obama an elitist that got me into a total meltdown. I just about busted a gut. I swear I have not been so mad at a politician since Lyndon Johnson cancelled the War on Poverty because he wanted to bomb Hanoi.
I was furious to the point of physical illness. I was so mad at Hillary that I was going global and starting to get mad at all the people who supported her, including various friends and relatives whom I stopped speaking to. What a talent that woman has!
This fury lasted for ten days, but yesterday morning, I woke up after the sweetest dream -- a dream that had nothing to do with politics, but it was a romp on the beach with my California Sweetheart from 1970. It was nice of her to come back to visit me in the dreamscape -- You're not welcome to know the rest of the dream because there's a limit....... but I woke up with a smile, and I realized I was no longer mad at Hillary. In fact I was feeling a bit warm-hearted and magnanimous, and I wanted to forgive her and just let it go.
And the reason that I began to have such generous feelings toward Hillary? Because I know, from some profound depth in my heart, that SHE'S GOING TO LOSE and that the Obamas, Barak and Michelle, will prevail and go on to take the nomination and then take the fight to John McCain.
I offer no evidence for this conviction. I can marshal no facts in support of an argument, but I know that Hillary will lose. I know that this very week, in Indiana and North Carolina, she is peaking and reaching the high point of her political life -- but then it's all over.
Hillary, I understand how badly you wanted to be President, but it's not your time. There were so many good candidates this year -- especially Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, and John Edwards -- all hugely inspired toward public service -- I can only say I am grateful to you and to them for what you have done.
In the case of the Clintons -- they are trying to sneak around the 22nd Amendment which limits the President to two terms. The 22nd Amendment was passed by a Republican-controlled Congress in 1951 in revenge against the four-terms of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The two-term custom was established by our first President, George Washington. FDR broke that custom in 1940 when he ran for a 3rd term. It was a radical move, but with World War II on the horizon, I would have supported his decision, and I would have supported his 4th term as well.
But Hillary and Bill Clinton are not extraordinary people -- I'm quite sure of that. They are just trying to sneak back into the White House, and to make an end run around the 22nd Amendment.
The Clintons are driven to obsession by a need to get back to the White House -- they have established no other home. Politics is their joint addiction, otherwise they can't stand each other. This is a very unhealthy couple. I couldn't vote for them -- I say this calmly.
I have worked so hard on maintaining a detached equanimity with regard to politics. I pride myself on my ability to listen to anybody -- even Rush Limbaugh -- without an increase in blood pressure. Although for Rush, I have to limit my exposure to no more than ten minutes.
I have travelled the country and mixed with people from all parts of the political spectrum -- and I'm always calm.
However, I must admit that I succumbed to a flash of anti-Clinton hostility these past few weeks. It was Hillary calling Barak Obama an elitist that got me into a total meltdown. I just about busted a gut. I swear I have not been so mad at a politician since Lyndon Johnson cancelled the War on Poverty because he wanted to bomb Hanoi.
I was furious to the point of physical illness. I was so mad at Hillary that I was going global and starting to get mad at all the people who supported her, including various friends and relatives whom I stopped speaking to. What a talent that woman has!
This fury lasted for ten days, but yesterday morning, I woke up after the sweetest dream -- a dream that had nothing to do with politics, but it was a romp on the beach with my California Sweetheart from 1970. It was nice of her to come back to visit me in the dreamscape -- You're not welcome to know the rest of the dream because there's a limit....... but I woke up with a smile, and I realized I was no longer mad at Hillary. In fact I was feeling a bit warm-hearted and magnanimous, and I wanted to forgive her and just let it go.
And the reason that I began to have such generous feelings toward Hillary? Because I know, from some profound depth in my heart, that SHE'S GOING TO LOSE and that the Obamas, Barak and Michelle, will prevail and go on to take the nomination and then take the fight to John McCain.
I offer no evidence for this conviction. I can marshal no facts in support of an argument, but I know that Hillary will lose. I know that this very week, in Indiana and North Carolina, she is peaking and reaching the high point of her political life -- but then it's all over.
Hillary, I understand how badly you wanted to be President, but it's not your time. There were so many good candidates this year -- especially Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, and John Edwards -- all hugely inspired toward public service -- I can only say I am grateful to you and to them for what you have done.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
White Men Can't Jump
"White Men Can't Jump," filmed in 1992, is a text book illustration of how the races can work together. Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes play a pair of white and black basketball players who team up together and hustle pickup games in the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Wesley Snipes, the black guy, says to Woody Harrelson, "white men can't jump."
But Woody fires back at the black guy and says, "You'd rather look good than win."
These short vignettes reveal the complex psychology between the two races in America.
We should all watch this movie again. The other good movie to explain race relations is Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing," filmed in 1989, where Danny Aiello plays the last Italian selling pizza in an all-black neighborhood in Brooklyn. Aiello and his two white sons display a nasty attitude to their all-black customers, who retaliate by burning down their store.
The result? Danny Aiello goes out of business, the young black people have no place to get pizza, and the only people to win are the Koreans who have a grocery store across the street. This movie is an example of how race relations can go badly.
Frog Hospital is teaching race relations now because it has become clear that the General Public needs remedial instruction.
Take Wesley Snipes, for instance, who was recently convicted of income tax invasion and sentenced to three years in prison. We can draw two conclusion from this. One, Snipes is a real idiot. Did he think no one was watching? The second point is that Snipes will do three years in prison because he's black. He gets two years for breaking the law, and an extra year for being a black man with an attitude.
Now, for remedial instruction, we need to point out that Wesley Snipes and Barak Obama are both black men of a similar age, but they are not related and do not even know each other. So if Snipes commits a crime, that doesn't that Obama is also a crook. It doesn't mean that Obama should denounce Wesley Snipes or refuse to see any of his movies.
But there's a reason why white men rule the world -- it's because we know how to keep all our ducks in a row. When a white man runs for President, he knows how to silence any disturbing relations. Presidents like LBJ, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter all had stupid and embarrassing brothers -- who were firmly silenced and kept in place.
That is the natural habit of dominance.
Experienced politicians, like Bill and Hillary Clinton, with their razor-sharp, ruthless skills, know how to put away the old friends from the old neighborhood. They carefully analyze their relations. If you're going to cost them votes, they drop you like a hot rock.
But Barak Obama, being young and green and only slightly corrupted, does not have the ruthless habits of the Clintons. Instead he is deeply conflicted, because he has loyalty and long affection for Jeremiah Wright, and he knows it's wrong to put down his old friend.
And yet political necessity is driving Obama to renounce this old friend.
And, it should be said, Obama has been ill-advised by high-priced political consultants who tell him to act white. "You gotta act white like a white guy, otherwise the white guys won't vote for you."
Hillary knows how to act white, she's inventing new code words everyday, and subtle ways of communicating to her new darlings of the working class. "I'm like you," she says, "I feel your pain," she says.
The breakdown between Senator Obama and his old friend, Reverend Wright, is a sad situation and a personal matter.
Or it would be a personal matter if both parties were white.
But I will repeat my support for both men. Senator Barak Obama will make an excellent President. And Reverend Jeremiah Wright is like a fire in the night.
I love both of these guys. Senator Obama is being knocked around by friend and foe alike and he is not reacting smoothly. That just makes me like him all the better -- because he DOESN'T know how to play the game very well.
That's the whole point of his candidacy
On My Own. The subscription drive has failed. Frog Hospital has plenty of readers but a scant few paid subscribers. I need to let that go. I did appreciate the income I received, but more importantly, my paid subscribers served as an informal board of directors -- people who I answered to, people who backed me up.
But I'm on my own now, and I'm starting to see the good of this -- a chance to try some new things. Frog Hospital will be evolving be your eyes. Be sure to get off the mailing list if you're not enjoying the ride. All you have to do is hit reply, and type "Unsubscribe."
But Woody fires back at the black guy and says, "You'd rather look good than win."
These short vignettes reveal the complex psychology between the two races in America.
We should all watch this movie again. The other good movie to explain race relations is Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing," filmed in 1989, where Danny Aiello plays the last Italian selling pizza in an all-black neighborhood in Brooklyn. Aiello and his two white sons display a nasty attitude to their all-black customers, who retaliate by burning down their store.
The result? Danny Aiello goes out of business, the young black people have no place to get pizza, and the only people to win are the Koreans who have a grocery store across the street. This movie is an example of how race relations can go badly.
Frog Hospital is teaching race relations now because it has become clear that the General Public needs remedial instruction.
Take Wesley Snipes, for instance, who was recently convicted of income tax invasion and sentenced to three years in prison. We can draw two conclusion from this. One, Snipes is a real idiot. Did he think no one was watching? The second point is that Snipes will do three years in prison because he's black. He gets two years for breaking the law, and an extra year for being a black man with an attitude.
Now, for remedial instruction, we need to point out that Wesley Snipes and Barak Obama are both black men of a similar age, but they are not related and do not even know each other. So if Snipes commits a crime, that doesn't that Obama is also a crook. It doesn't mean that Obama should denounce Wesley Snipes or refuse to see any of his movies.
But there's a reason why white men rule the world -- it's because we know how to keep all our ducks in a row. When a white man runs for President, he knows how to silence any disturbing relations. Presidents like LBJ, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter all had stupid and embarrassing brothers -- who were firmly silenced and kept in place.
That is the natural habit of dominance.
Experienced politicians, like Bill and Hillary Clinton, with their razor-sharp, ruthless skills, know how to put away the old friends from the old neighborhood. They carefully analyze their relations. If you're going to cost them votes, they drop you like a hot rock.
But Barak Obama, being young and green and only slightly corrupted, does not have the ruthless habits of the Clintons. Instead he is deeply conflicted, because he has loyalty and long affection for Jeremiah Wright, and he knows it's wrong to put down his old friend.
And yet political necessity is driving Obama to renounce this old friend.
And, it should be said, Obama has been ill-advised by high-priced political consultants who tell him to act white. "You gotta act white like a white guy, otherwise the white guys won't vote for you."
Hillary knows how to act white, she's inventing new code words everyday, and subtle ways of communicating to her new darlings of the working class. "I'm like you," she says, "I feel your pain," she says.
The breakdown between Senator Obama and his old friend, Reverend Wright, is a sad situation and a personal matter.
Or it would be a personal matter if both parties were white.
But I will repeat my support for both men. Senator Barak Obama will make an excellent President. And Reverend Jeremiah Wright is like a fire in the night.
I love both of these guys. Senator Obama is being knocked around by friend and foe alike and he is not reacting smoothly. That just makes me like him all the better -- because he DOESN'T know how to play the game very well.
That's the whole point of his candidacy
On My Own. The subscription drive has failed. Frog Hospital has plenty of readers but a scant few paid subscribers. I need to let that go. I did appreciate the income I received, but more importantly, my paid subscribers served as an informal board of directors -- people who I answered to, people who backed me up.
But I'm on my own now, and I'm starting to see the good of this -- a chance to try some new things. Frog Hospital will be evolving be your eyes. Be sure to get off the mailing list if you're not enjoying the ride. All you have to do is hit reply, and type "Unsubscribe."
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Say Uncle
I claim the Rev. Jeremiah Wright as my true South Side uncle. If you disrespect him, than you disrespect me. If you walk out of his church, than you're walking out of my life.
There is a tidal wave of religious bigotry and racial intolerance focused on Rev. Wright, but I stand with him. America needs to hear what he has to say.
I am surprised at the furious reaction to Wright's sermons. I see now that we have not overcome race -- we can get there, but we can't runaround race, we have to go right through it. And we can get through race and get to a better place where Barak Obama serves as President.
But if Rev. Wright makes you mad, or if you think he ought to keep quiet in order to improve Obama's chances, then you have a racial problem and you need to deal with it.
I am calling on every single American that I know about this. We need to deal with it. But telling Rev. Wright to shut up and go home is like if you had said the same thing to me. The Rev. Wright is my uncle. He gets to talk, I get to talk, and we all get to talk.
God Bless America
There is a tidal wave of religious bigotry and racial intolerance focused on Rev. Wright, but I stand with him. America needs to hear what he has to say.
I am surprised at the furious reaction to Wright's sermons. I see now that we have not overcome race -- we can get there, but we can't runaround race, we have to go right through it. And we can get through race and get to a better place where Barak Obama serves as President.
But if Rev. Wright makes you mad, or if you think he ought to keep quiet in order to improve Obama's chances, then you have a racial problem and you need to deal with it.
I am calling on every single American that I know about this. We need to deal with it. But telling Rev. Wright to shut up and go home is like if you had said the same thing to me. The Rev. Wright is my uncle. He gets to talk, I get to talk, and we all get to talk.
God Bless America
Acting Tough
Golda Meir was the Prime Minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974. She didn't act tough, she WAS tough. She didn't need to convince anyone that she was serious, because she WAS serious. And because she truly had that strength, she was also warm and kindhearted. Look at this photo of her -- not a mean bone in her body. Furthermore, Golda was not a pretty woman, but she was nice to look at and pleasant.
In contrast, our dominant American female needs to prove something. Hillary needs to act tough -- but she's not tough, she's mean. That might explain why she arouses so much hostility.
Why did she stoop to calling my man Obama an elitist because he wouldn't shoot pool in a small town in Pennsylvania? A strong and sympathetic woman would have let his remarks go by -- or would even have backed him up on that. Let's see -- a black man from the South Side of Chicago goes into a small town in the countryside of Pennsylvania and he doesn't feel very comfortable?
I wonder why.
But Hillary just steps up and gives us a new code word, "blue collar worker." She says Obama is not in touch with them. Hillary is from Park Ridge, a leafy north side suburb of Chicago -- near to where I grew up. I know this territory and the status rankings that go with it. People who grow up in Park Ridge have the world at their feet unless they blow it. People from the South Side of Chicago face an uphill struggle, and yet Hillary calls Obama an "elitist."
She's mean, not tough. She's destroys and brings ruin.
So how is Obama going to finish her off? Well, Barak, she's a girl and you can't hit her. But I'm thinking, Obama is too smart for that. What he does -- he stays cool, he stays steady, and he keeps going. Hillary taunts him and goads him over and over again, but he keeps cool. What is he a wimp?
Then out steps Michelle Obama, the fierce one. She turns back to Hillary and calls her out, "Girl, you think you're tough. I'm gonna show you tough. You're ragging on my husband and I'm going to take you downtown."
And Michelle Obama will tear Hillary to pieces and there will be justice in the land.
Cold Spring
If this global warming gets any worse, we're going to have icebergs floating down the Skagit River. The cherry crop in eastern Washington has been devastated by late spring frosts, so your Washington-grown Bings and Queen Anne's will cost double. But look on the bright side -- that solves the labor crunch. Washington farmers have been facing a serious shortage of farm labor this season, but if half the fruit crop is ruined, they won't need so many workers.
Which brings us to the heart of the Frog Hospital policy of energy independence. The key is diversity -- just like what the farmers do. Farmers around here know they can never depend on just one crop, because everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
Same with energy -- every source of energy comes with its own problem. Energy from foreign oil causes war. Wind power kills birds, ethanol from corn drives up food prices, solar energy is just plain pricey, and nuclear energy can blow up in your face.
The solution is to get a little here and little there. Diversify.
And conserve.
The Poconos
SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA. In 2004, I spent a week in late November walking the woods in the Poconos, in eastern Pennsylvania. All the leaves were down from the beech trees, making a copper-carpet, and soft for walking from the rain. I don't hunt, but I never saw a woods that looked so right for it -- fat bears in those hills. I didn't see the bears, but I know they saw me. Deer and wild turkey too -- I could have gotten my Elmer Fudd hat and shotgun and just gotten lost in those woods.
People from the West Coast think there's no country in the East, but they haven't seen places like the Poconos.
Besides the hunting news, there is little to report on the dreary debate between Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton, as the Pennsylvania primary approaches. One hopes for a decisive outcome.
Old John McCain, the War Hero. First, I have several good things to say about McCain. He is an indifferent fundraiser, and I consider that high praise. He has refused protection from the Secret Service and won't live in a cocoon. His son, a Marine, is serving in Iraq. McCain is one of few office pubic servants who can say that, and yet he never says that, because talk is cheap.
But his war record in Viet Nam -- yes, I know what he did, but why? He thought he was defending his country, but he wasn't. He was on a military adventure in a country we never heard of, protecting people who never did anything for us, and attacking people who never did anything to us.
Viet Nam wasn't our fight, and so my genuine praise goes to thousands of men my age who served their country best by refusing to fight in that damned, useless war.
Zimbabwe Independence Day Celebration. Saturday, April 19, 9 pm,
SIAM ON LAKE UNION,1880 Fairview Ave. $10, cash bar, live music. Open to one and all. Meet the real people from Zimbabwe -- those immigrants who have settled in the Seattle area. Hear the wonderful Shona music -- it is so good for dancing. It promises to be a great party this year, in celebration of Robert Mugabe's imminent departure.
"Don't Get Me Started"
At the Water Cress Medical Center, where I work in a stress management position, I have noticed a lot of "guarding" behavior in the nursing staff. Guarding is a medical term, defined as follows:
Abdominal guarding: Tensing of the abdominal wall muscles to guard inflamed organs within the abdomen from the pain of pressure upon them. The tensing is detected when the abdomen wall is pressed.
But in the nursing staff, guarding is not evidence of a diseased organ, but rather a psychological defense. It means, "Don't ask me how my day is going, because I just want to get through it. And please don't ask me what's wrong, because if I start talking, I won't be able to stop, and I'll start screaming..... I have to get back to work."
Medical Modesty. Last summer, the White House announced, with full-color illustrations, that President George Bush was about to undergo a colonoscopy. We got all the details of his intestinal examination, because our beloved president was being "open" about it. But I didn't want to know. Why don't they just say "a routine medical procedure" ?
And Washington Governor Christine Gregoire, several years ago, bravely and openly, told the public at large about her breast cancer.
I don't actually know these people. We are far from being intimates. So, why, in God's name, are they compelled to literally spill their guts to perfect strangers?
I'm going to vote for the first candidate who makes the following statement:
"My health is my own business. I see a doctor and I have a loving family and friends with whom I discuss these matters.
I will only tell you that my health is quite good and I am as certain as anyone can be that I will be able to complete my term of office. But if I become seriously impaired, I will resign.
And if you can't trust me on what I just said, then don't vote for me."
This statement of privacy applies to the rest of us. It's a matter of modesty, not shame. Of course, one should never be ashamed or embarrassed about their health, or some disease that threatens their life, but one ought to be modest.
Modest -- such an old-fashioned word. Do you know what it means?
Retirement Plans
I'm going to retire when I stop working. At that point I will continue eating, but not as much, since I won't be working. When I'm too old to drive, I plan to resume hitchhiking. It will easy for an old geezer to get a ride if he waves his thumb. Also, I will continue to take care of myself until I am no longer able, at which point I will become someone else's problem.
I'll work out the details on a day-by-day basis.
Also, old men tend to be long-winded when they talk about their past. I intend to keep it short, unless someone really wants to hear it.
People from the West Coast think there's no country in the East, but they haven't seen places like the Poconos.
Besides the hunting news, there is little to report on the dreary debate between Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton, as the Pennsylvania primary approaches. One hopes for a decisive outcome.
Old John McCain, the War Hero. First, I have several good things to say about McCain. He is an indifferent fundraiser, and I consider that high praise. He has refused protection from the Secret Service and won't live in a cocoon. His son, a Marine, is serving in Iraq. McCain is one of few office pubic servants who can say that, and yet he never says that, because talk is cheap.
But his war record in Viet Nam -- yes, I know what he did, but why? He thought he was defending his country, but he wasn't. He was on a military adventure in a country we never heard of, protecting people who never did anything for us, and attacking people who never did anything to us.
Viet Nam wasn't our fight, and so my genuine praise goes to thousands of men my age who served their country best by refusing to fight in that damned, useless war.
Zimbabwe Independence Day Celebration. Saturday, April 19, 9 pm,
SIAM ON LAKE UNION,1880 Fairview Ave. $10, cash bar, live music. Open to one and all. Meet the real people from Zimbabwe -- those immigrants who have settled in the Seattle area. Hear the wonderful Shona music -- it is so good for dancing. It promises to be a great party this year, in celebration of Robert Mugabe's imminent departure.
"Don't Get Me Started"
At the Water Cress Medical Center, where I work in a stress management position, I have noticed a lot of "guarding" behavior in the nursing staff. Guarding is a medical term, defined as follows:
Abdominal guarding: Tensing of the abdominal wall muscles to guard inflamed organs within the abdomen from the pain of pressure upon them. The tensing is detected when the abdomen wall is pressed.
But in the nursing staff, guarding is not evidence of a diseased organ, but rather a psychological defense. It means, "Don't ask me how my day is going, because I just want to get through it. And please don't ask me what's wrong, because if I start talking, I won't be able to stop, and I'll start screaming..... I have to get back to work."
Medical Modesty. Last summer, the White House announced, with full-color illustrations, that President George Bush was about to undergo a colonoscopy. We got all the details of his intestinal examination, because our beloved president was being "open" about it. But I didn't want to know. Why don't they just say "a routine medical procedure" ?
And Washington Governor Christine Gregoire, several years ago, bravely and openly, told the public at large about her breast cancer.
I don't actually know these people. We are far from being intimates. So, why, in God's name, are they compelled to literally spill their guts to perfect strangers?
I'm going to vote for the first candidate who makes the following statement:
"My health is my own business. I see a doctor and I have a loving family and friends with whom I discuss these matters.
I will only tell you that my health is quite good and I am as certain as anyone can be that I will be able to complete my term of office. But if I become seriously impaired, I will resign.
And if you can't trust me on what I just said, then don't vote for me."
This statement of privacy applies to the rest of us. It's a matter of modesty, not shame. Of course, one should never be ashamed or embarrassed about their health, or some disease that threatens their life, but one ought to be modest.
Modest -- such an old-fashioned word. Do you know what it means?
Retirement Plans
I'm going to retire when I stop working. At that point I will continue eating, but not as much, since I won't be working. When I'm too old to drive, I plan to resume hitchhiking. It will easy for an old geezer to get a ride if he waves his thumb. Also, I will continue to take care of myself until I am no longer able, at which point I will become someone else's problem.
I'll work out the details on a day-by-day basis.
Also, old men tend to be long-winded when they talk about their past. I intend to keep it short, unless someone really wants to hear it.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
IF THERE'S ANY GOOD NEWS FROM ZIMBABWE, I WON'T BELIEVE IT.
By Fred Owens
A lot of my attention is on the news from Zimbabwe. The Old Man, Robert Mugabe, is packing his suitcase now, a suitcase full of diamonds and bundles of Euros -- but he is on his way out. The Zimbabwean community in Seattle has an Independence Day party every year on April 19 -- this year they will have something to celebrate.
I lived in Zimbabwe for a year in 1998 and married my second wife there. We came back to America and lived together for five more years and then divorced. She stayed in America. She has a decent job and is able to wire money to her family back in Zimbabwe
I called her this morning to get the news from her home. For the past few years, news from her is about which one of her relatives back home has died. Today she told me that her cousin Francis, a young man, was dead, and that her cousin Tante will soon die. Tante is in her mid-forties and has eight children. I didn't ask what caused their death, I only said I was sorry and how I remembered the times I spent with them.
It's like that for every family in Zimbabwe. Mugabe's departure might not make things better.
SAY IT IN A NICE WAY. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied blacks the same opportunities as whites when the country was founded.
"Black Americans were a founding population," she said. "Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together -- Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That's not a very pretty reality of our founding.
Didn't Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, say the same thing?. Of course Rice is a diplomat, so she said it in a much nicer way.
NATIONAL HEALTH CARE. Of 2,000 American doctors surveyed, 59 % said that they favored a universal national health care plan, according to a survey published by the Reuters News Service. The U.S. has over 800,000 doctors.
Frog Hospital surveyed only one doctor, Dr. Roy Berkowitz, who practices family medicine in Somerville, Massachusetts, a working class suburb of Boston. Dr. Berkowitz said, and I quote, "Anything is better than what we have now."
Berkowitz was my family physician when I lived in the Boston area 15 years ago. He likes his work and he makes a good living, but he is buried in paperwork from HMOs and insurance companies.
WORLD'S LARGEST BUREAUCRACY. Frog Hospital does not support A universal national health care plan for over 300 million Americans. It could create the largest bureaucracy in the nation's history. The next President needs to first demonstrate competence solving a more tractable problem, such as immigration reform. Or California and Massachusetts can forge ahead with their single-player plans -- if those work, a bigger program might be attempted.
YOU CAN KEEP YOUR HAT ON. You get sent to the hospital, you get admitted and sign a million papers, and then they take you to a room, and you take off all your clothes, and you put on one of those ass-waving-in-the-breeze hospital gowns. This is nothing to the hospital staff, in terms of your personal nakedness -- they are SO not interested. But your sense of modesty is challenged, and worse, your identity has been stripped -- because there is nothing in that room that looks like home. Of course it's spanking clean, and the sheets are fresh, and you have a TV. It doesn't even smell like hospitals used to smell -- they have an excellent ventilation system and they use odor-free soap.
And the nurses are all very nice to you -- it's just that you can't actually do anything, they won't let you.
But you can keep your hat on.
I will need to explain this. With all the gizmos and wires and tubes they are using or might use on you, they need to get hands-on access to every part of your body -- that's why you're wearing that skimpy gown. But you can keep your hat on, because it won't get in the way, and so, be you a lady or a gentlemen, you can still BE YOURSELF.
I've been thinking that I would visit the Big Nurse down on the first floor, and make a suggestion that we put a sign at the entrance to the unit that says, "You Can Keep Your Hat On."
A sign wouldn't cost very much money, and the incoming patients would find it re-assuring.
Actually, I get lots of ideas about how things could get better at the hospital. I kept a notebook for jotting down ideas, but when I reviewed them all, I found a common thread -- they all cost money. And do the Higher Ups want to hear my expensive suggestions? I think not. So I am searching for ideas that will save money and discovering that is not so easy.
SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE CONTINUES. With sufficient funds this newsletters could be proof-read and edited. Editors fix problems -- they make sure that facts are really facts, and attributed to a source -- stuff like that. It would not cost a great deal to engage an editor for this newsletter, but it would make a great improvement.
Please mail a check for $25, made out to Fred Owens, and mail it to
Fred Owens
Box 1292
LaConner WA 98257
By Fred Owens
A lot of my attention is on the news from Zimbabwe. The Old Man, Robert Mugabe, is packing his suitcase now, a suitcase full of diamonds and bundles of Euros -- but he is on his way out. The Zimbabwean community in Seattle has an Independence Day party every year on April 19 -- this year they will have something to celebrate.
I lived in Zimbabwe for a year in 1998 and married my second wife there. We came back to America and lived together for five more years and then divorced. She stayed in America. She has a decent job and is able to wire money to her family back in Zimbabwe
I called her this morning to get the news from her home. For the past few years, news from her is about which one of her relatives back home has died. Today she told me that her cousin Francis, a young man, was dead, and that her cousin Tante will soon die. Tante is in her mid-forties and has eight children. I didn't ask what caused their death, I only said I was sorry and how I remembered the times I spent with them.
It's like that for every family in Zimbabwe. Mugabe's departure might not make things better.
SAY IT IN A NICE WAY. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied blacks the same opportunities as whites when the country was founded.
"Black Americans were a founding population," she said. "Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together -- Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That's not a very pretty reality of our founding.
Didn't Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, say the same thing?. Of course Rice is a diplomat, so she said it in a much nicer way.
NATIONAL HEALTH CARE. Of 2,000 American doctors surveyed, 59 % said that they favored a universal national health care plan, according to a survey published by the Reuters News Service. The U.S. has over 800,000 doctors.
Frog Hospital surveyed only one doctor, Dr. Roy Berkowitz, who practices family medicine in Somerville, Massachusetts, a working class suburb of Boston. Dr. Berkowitz said, and I quote, "Anything is better than what we have now."
Berkowitz was my family physician when I lived in the Boston area 15 years ago. He likes his work and he makes a good living, but he is buried in paperwork from HMOs and insurance companies.
WORLD'S LARGEST BUREAUCRACY. Frog Hospital does not support A universal national health care plan for over 300 million Americans. It could create the largest bureaucracy in the nation's history. The next President needs to first demonstrate competence solving a more tractable problem, such as immigration reform. Or California and Massachusetts can forge ahead with their single-player plans -- if those work, a bigger program might be attempted.
YOU CAN KEEP YOUR HAT ON. You get sent to the hospital, you get admitted and sign a million papers, and then they take you to a room, and you take off all your clothes, and you put on one of those ass-waving-in-the-breeze hospital gowns. This is nothing to the hospital staff, in terms of your personal nakedness -- they are SO not interested. But your sense of modesty is challenged, and worse, your identity has been stripped -- because there is nothing in that room that looks like home. Of course it's spanking clean, and the sheets are fresh, and you have a TV. It doesn't even smell like hospitals used to smell -- they have an excellent ventilation system and they use odor-free soap.
And the nurses are all very nice to you -- it's just that you can't actually do anything, they won't let you.
But you can keep your hat on.
I will need to explain this. With all the gizmos and wires and tubes they are using or might use on you, they need to get hands-on access to every part of your body -- that's why you're wearing that skimpy gown. But you can keep your hat on, because it won't get in the way, and so, be you a lady or a gentlemen, you can still BE YOURSELF.
I've been thinking that I would visit the Big Nurse down on the first floor, and make a suggestion that we put a sign at the entrance to the unit that says, "You Can Keep Your Hat On."
A sign wouldn't cost very much money, and the incoming patients would find it re-assuring.
Actually, I get lots of ideas about how things could get better at the hospital. I kept a notebook for jotting down ideas, but when I reviewed them all, I found a common thread -- they all cost money. And do the Higher Ups want to hear my expensive suggestions? I think not. So I am searching for ideas that will save money and discovering that is not so easy.
SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE CONTINUES. With sufficient funds this newsletters could be proof-read and edited. Editors fix problems -- they make sure that facts are really facts, and attributed to a source -- stuff like that. It would not cost a great deal to engage an editor for this newsletter, but it would make a great improvement.
Please mail a check for $25, made out to Fred Owens, and mail it to
Fred Owens
Box 1292
LaConner WA 98257
Deconstructed
American voters move to the left and find --- there's nothing there! My God, it's all been deconstructed. Meaningless, virulent data swarming over the ruins of a once powerful, political language. There's nothing left, on the left, except for "gender-free, inclusive, diverse, multi-culturalism." Huh?
Just another nightmare, never mind.
For myself, as a writer, I have to go over to the right every now and then, to borrow some good, solid language -- they're always glad to share. "Fred, try this one -- Truth, Justice, and the American Way!" Oh yeah, I remember that, it was from Superman's TV show in the 1950s.
On the Obama front: It would really help to hear from Pastor Jeremiah Wright. This is what he could say,
"First of all, I'm a plain spoken man, and if you don't like my preaching, then don't come to my church. As for my brother Barak, he is and always has been his own man. He is a leader, not a follower. I don't give him orders. I am proud beyond measure that the next President of the United States has turned to me for advice from time to time, about his spiritual life, and about the words of Jesus Christ which guide both him and me. I stand with him now in this hour of bitter controversy, as he stands with me, but Barak Obama speaks for himself -- don't ever forget that. And he faces judgment for his deeds, not mine."
Preacher Wright is off the front pages now, but the right wing is still hammering away at him. Let me summarize what Michael Medved said, "It's un-American to chastise the American people from the left. We are the only ones allowed to issue condemnations."
HEADLINE. The Newspaper Association of America reports a nearly 10 % drop in advertising revenue this year -- the biggest drop in 50 years. Why do you think I'm working at the hospital?
I spoke with the traveling press when I attended the Barak Obama rally in Austin, Texas, in early March -- reporters from the New York Daily News, Los Angeles Times, and Associated Press -- the boys on the bus. They were haggard, unkempt and weary, slogging their laptops and carry-on bags from one city to another. The LA Times man had to check his Blackberry to find out what city he was in -- it all was a blur to him.
I pitied them on this endless campaign. The pay is not great, and their job security becomes more tenuous every year. The print journalists, whatever you want to say about their bias, work awfully hard at their craft. Covering the campaign seems like a raw deal. Obama took in over $50 million in campaign donations in the month of February and he will spend almost all of that on TV advertising -- lining Rupert Murdoch's pocket. McCain and Hillary are doing the same. In other words, the print journalists do all the hard work, and the TV guys get all the money.
Maybe the newspapers should stop covering the campaign -- what's in it for them? They could make more money reviewing "American Idol."
The national press has always liked Obama better than Hillary. That couldn't be liberal bias, because Obama and Hillary are equally liberal. But it's simple to explain -- journalists have a much deeper bias -- they like a good story, something fresh, and Obama fills that need. It certainly works for me. The Clintons have been on the national stage for 16 years now -- it's getting to be a pretty stale soap opera.
However, I am in favor of getting all the firsts over with -- first woman, first black, and so forth. Let's look at the roster of powerful Greek-American politicians, running the gamut from Vice-President Spiro Agnew to Governor and Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis. The Greek have not yet reached the very top -- but someday they will. And they're way ahead of the Italians, despite being fewer in number.
THE TEMPER OF THE CAMPAIGN. That reminds me of the Dukakis campaign in 1988 -- a competent man, running a well-oiled machine, experienced, qualified, with substantial positions on substantial issues. It was all so well organized -- and he lost. In a similar manner, John Kerry was the Democrats' compromise choice in 2004, equally disliked by all factions, but competent, experienced, and ready to serve. The Democrats marched behind Kerry with a spirit of grim determination -- and they lost.
In fact, that's how the Democrats lose. But when the mayhem rises, and the troops get a little wild, and fists start flying, and the music gets louder -- that's actually a good sign. These people do not get their ducks in a row. As Will Rogers once said, "I don't belong to an organized political party, I'm a Democrat."
This is how I read the unending battle between Obama and Hillary -- it's getting absurd and little crazy and that's how you can tell the Democrats are going to win.
Except, Old John McCain is doing pretty well, making calm, statesmanlike speeches about the economy and about the war in Iraq and testing the waters about a likely VP -- Mitt Romney could give him very good support on the economy.
And -- this is getting interesting -- Condaleeza Rice is sending out some feelers about her prospects. She will be out of a job next January, so she might as well consider being a VP for McCain. She brings a lot with her, like intelligence.
The last really intelligent Republican President was Richard Nixon, and he had to resign. This gave intelligence a bad name in GOP quarters, so they made character an issue and won a lot of elections.
I'll agree on that -- character is always more important than intelligence, but is it asking too much to have both?
Just another nightmare, never mind.
For myself, as a writer, I have to go over to the right every now and then, to borrow some good, solid language -- they're always glad to share. "Fred, try this one -- Truth, Justice, and the American Way!" Oh yeah, I remember that, it was from Superman's TV show in the 1950s.
On the Obama front: It would really help to hear from Pastor Jeremiah Wright. This is what he could say,
"First of all, I'm a plain spoken man, and if you don't like my preaching, then don't come to my church. As for my brother Barak, he is and always has been his own man. He is a leader, not a follower. I don't give him orders. I am proud beyond measure that the next President of the United States has turned to me for advice from time to time, about his spiritual life, and about the words of Jesus Christ which guide both him and me. I stand with him now in this hour of bitter controversy, as he stands with me, but Barak Obama speaks for himself -- don't ever forget that. And he faces judgment for his deeds, not mine."
Preacher Wright is off the front pages now, but the right wing is still hammering away at him. Let me summarize what Michael Medved said, "It's un-American to chastise the American people from the left. We are the only ones allowed to issue condemnations."
HEADLINE. The Newspaper Association of America reports a nearly 10 % drop in advertising revenue this year -- the biggest drop in 50 years. Why do you think I'm working at the hospital?
I spoke with the traveling press when I attended the Barak Obama rally in Austin, Texas, in early March -- reporters from the New York Daily News, Los Angeles Times, and Associated Press -- the boys on the bus. They were haggard, unkempt and weary, slogging their laptops and carry-on bags from one city to another. The LA Times man had to check his Blackberry to find out what city he was in -- it all was a blur to him.
I pitied them on this endless campaign. The pay is not great, and their job security becomes more tenuous every year. The print journalists, whatever you want to say about their bias, work awfully hard at their craft. Covering the campaign seems like a raw deal. Obama took in over $50 million in campaign donations in the month of February and he will spend almost all of that on TV advertising -- lining Rupert Murdoch's pocket. McCain and Hillary are doing the same. In other words, the print journalists do all the hard work, and the TV guys get all the money.
Maybe the newspapers should stop covering the campaign -- what's in it for them? They could make more money reviewing "American Idol."
The national press has always liked Obama better than Hillary. That couldn't be liberal bias, because Obama and Hillary are equally liberal. But it's simple to explain -- journalists have a much deeper bias -- they like a good story, something fresh, and Obama fills that need. It certainly works for me. The Clintons have been on the national stage for 16 years now -- it's getting to be a pretty stale soap opera.
However, I am in favor of getting all the firsts over with -- first woman, first black, and so forth. Let's look at the roster of powerful Greek-American politicians, running the gamut from Vice-President Spiro Agnew to Governor and Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis. The Greek have not yet reached the very top -- but someday they will. And they're way ahead of the Italians, despite being fewer in number.
THE TEMPER OF THE CAMPAIGN. That reminds me of the Dukakis campaign in 1988 -- a competent man, running a well-oiled machine, experienced, qualified, with substantial positions on substantial issues. It was all so well organized -- and he lost. In a similar manner, John Kerry was the Democrats' compromise choice in 2004, equally disliked by all factions, but competent, experienced, and ready to serve. The Democrats marched behind Kerry with a spirit of grim determination -- and they lost.
In fact, that's how the Democrats lose. But when the mayhem rises, and the troops get a little wild, and fists start flying, and the music gets louder -- that's actually a good sign. These people do not get their ducks in a row. As Will Rogers once said, "I don't belong to an organized political party, I'm a Democrat."
This is how I read the unending battle between Obama and Hillary -- it's getting absurd and little crazy and that's how you can tell the Democrats are going to win.
Except, Old John McCain is doing pretty well, making calm, statesmanlike speeches about the economy and about the war in Iraq and testing the waters about a likely VP -- Mitt Romney could give him very good support on the economy.
And -- this is getting interesting -- Condaleeza Rice is sending out some feelers about her prospects. She will be out of a job next January, so she might as well consider being a VP for McCain. She brings a lot with her, like intelligence.
The last really intelligent Republican President was Richard Nixon, and he had to resign. This gave intelligence a bad name in GOP quarters, so they made character an issue and won a lot of elections.
I'll agree on that -- character is always more important than intelligence, but is it asking too much to have both?
It'll get worse. Osama Bin Laden, up in his cave, is planning to endorse Barak Obama -- he's just trying to figure out the best time to cause the most mayhem. Wouldn't he do that? Reaching his long, nasty fingers into our domestic choices. It's too bad our cowboy President didn't take him out.
Excuse me -- just my nightmare.
The Obama pastor flap explains why Colin Powell didn't want to run for President in 2000, because race will rear its ugly head sooner or later. Powell, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and then as Secretary of State, rose as far up as he could go without getting into electoral politics. Nobody ever threw mud at him -- but if he had taken one step out into the public arena, it would have gotten rough. Powell knew what would happen to the first serious black candidate, and he knew he wasn't going to be that man.
Powell saw what happened to Clarence Thomas in 1991. Thomas should have been challenged on his judicial merits. Instead, among so many men who were as bad or worse, Thomas became the poster boy for sexual harassment.
Then there was OJ Simpson in 1994. Powell saw that one too. And he said now way. Or maybe his wife said no way.
But Obama is going through with it -- with more courage than Powell or too dumb and young to know better. Obama is getting all kinds of static about his pastor and his white grandmother. The critics are clairvoyant -- they know the exact words that his white grandmother spoke, those words that made Barak cringe. Because they happen to know those exact words, they judiciously say that it didn't amount to much -- I guess they have better sources than I do.
I am not certain that Obama is the best man to become President, but I am 100 percent behind him on this racial nonsense. It seems to me a rather personal matter whom you choose for a pastor, but this lurid fascination with the "dark" lives of our darker brethren disgusts me. Usually it's about sex -- at least that's not happening this time.
But here's the good news -- with Obama becoming a national figure, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will no longer be the "official spokesmen for black America" -- Those guys are finished, praise the Lord.
Obama does not owe a dime to the civil rights establishment which has ridden herd on black America since the 1960s. Let my people go!
Meanwhile, Hillary, driving a car with no reverse gear, has announced that she would not attend such a church, or would walk out. Thanks for the input.
But I had a secret litmus test between the two all along -- the first one to take a break would get my support. Hillary slogged on through the Easter weekend. Obama, who actually has a life, went to the Virgin Islands for a three-day rest.
Obama, as much as he is driven by ego and ambition, also likes to take a walk on the beach with his family.
So much for politics. I am combining campaign reports with news from the hospital where I work because political enterprise needs to be grounded in our daily reality. I cannot give the name of the hospital because that would imply that I am speaking on its behalf. The hospital has an excellent director of communications, and I'm not going to step on her toes. And patient privacy is a priority. And I want to keep my job.
RARE DISEASES AND ROUTINE SURGERY.
"It's a routine surgery."
What?
"Well, it's a fairly common procedure, and the outcome is almost always positive."
But....
"Of course, in a very small number of cases, it's possible that..."
That's what I thought, I'm gonna die.
"Look, it'll be over before you know it, and you won't feel a thing.... I mean, again, there is the slight possibility of some discomfort, but that's not likely, and we have very good pain medication."
I'm gonna die. You're going to put me unconscious and cut me open with a knife. I can see my guts spilling all over the place and there's blood everywhere.
The patient screams. The surgeon makes a wordless, reassuring gesture. The patient shakes his head, looks out the window for a moment and says, "Okay, whatever, give me the form, I'll sign it."
Thus concludes the world's shortest medical drama. Stay tuned next week for a story called, "The Wonder of Phlegm."
Also, the annual Frog Hospital subscription drive is coming soon, so get your check books ready.
Excuse me -- just my nightmare.
The Obama pastor flap explains why Colin Powell didn't want to run for President in 2000, because race will rear its ugly head sooner or later. Powell, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and then as Secretary of State, rose as far up as he could go without getting into electoral politics. Nobody ever threw mud at him -- but if he had taken one step out into the public arena, it would have gotten rough. Powell knew what would happen to the first serious black candidate, and he knew he wasn't going to be that man.
Powell saw what happened to Clarence Thomas in 1991. Thomas should have been challenged on his judicial merits. Instead, among so many men who were as bad or worse, Thomas became the poster boy for sexual harassment.
Then there was OJ Simpson in 1994. Powell saw that one too. And he said now way. Or maybe his wife said no way.
But Obama is going through with it -- with more courage than Powell or too dumb and young to know better. Obama is getting all kinds of static about his pastor and his white grandmother. The critics are clairvoyant -- they know the exact words that his white grandmother spoke, those words that made Barak cringe. Because they happen to know those exact words, they judiciously say that it didn't amount to much -- I guess they have better sources than I do.
I am not certain that Obama is the best man to become President, but I am 100 percent behind him on this racial nonsense. It seems to me a rather personal matter whom you choose for a pastor, but this lurid fascination with the "dark" lives of our darker brethren disgusts me. Usually it's about sex -- at least that's not happening this time.
But here's the good news -- with Obama becoming a national figure, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will no longer be the "official spokesmen for black America" -- Those guys are finished, praise the Lord.
Obama does not owe a dime to the civil rights establishment which has ridden herd on black America since the 1960s. Let my people go!
Meanwhile, Hillary, driving a car with no reverse gear, has announced that she would not attend such a church, or would walk out. Thanks for the input.
But I had a secret litmus test between the two all along -- the first one to take a break would get my support. Hillary slogged on through the Easter weekend. Obama, who actually has a life, went to the Virgin Islands for a three-day rest.
Obama, as much as he is driven by ego and ambition, also likes to take a walk on the beach with his family.
So much for politics. I am combining campaign reports with news from the hospital where I work because political enterprise needs to be grounded in our daily reality. I cannot give the name of the hospital because that would imply that I am speaking on its behalf. The hospital has an excellent director of communications, and I'm not going to step on her toes. And patient privacy is a priority. And I want to keep my job.
RARE DISEASES AND ROUTINE SURGERY.
"It's a routine surgery."
What?
"Well, it's a fairly common procedure, and the outcome is almost always positive."
But....
"Of course, in a very small number of cases, it's possible that..."
That's what I thought, I'm gonna die.
"Look, it'll be over before you know it, and you won't feel a thing.... I mean, again, there is the slight possibility of some discomfort, but that's not likely, and we have very good pain medication."
I'm gonna die. You're going to put me unconscious and cut me open with a knife. I can see my guts spilling all over the place and there's blood everywhere.
The patient screams. The surgeon makes a wordless, reassuring gesture. The patient shakes his head, looks out the window for a moment and says, "Okay, whatever, give me the form, I'll sign it."
Thus concludes the world's shortest medical drama. Stay tuned next week for a story called, "The Wonder of Phlegm."
Also, the annual Frog Hospital subscription drive is coming soon, so get your check books ready.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Blood Work
I always see them at the hospital -- phlebotomists -- come into the room and draw samples from the patient's arm, which they place in tubes in various colors, and keep the tubes in a nice carrying basket that you could buy almost anywhere. Each tube gets a name and a bar code label, so as not to get blood samples mixed up.
But today I stopped by the lab to learn further -- they put the blood into a machine that spins and separates the components, and then into another machine that measures electrolytes, for example -- the sodium and potassium levels -- or another machine that does a CBC, a Complete Blood Count. This link to Wikipedia explains that.
I like Wikipedia for explaining medical terms. I read medical journals at the hospital's library. The articles are often very dense, but I stop to look up terms on Wikipedia and then keep going.
The blood words are some of my favorites -- erythrocytes, leukocytes, basinophils, macrophages, and the always popular hemoglobin -- that's beginner's stuff. Blood is complicated, and every single component can go wrong, and get you out of whack and very sick. That's why they do so much testing at the hospital.
The other thing about blood that is a marvel to me is its source -- red blood cells are produced in the bone marrow -- but why? You would think there might be some kind of sack near your liver that pumped out red blood cells on demand -- but why does blood come from bones?
There is some production of red blood cells in the spleen, as a back up source. The spleen weighs about five ounces and it's tucked up high and behind your stomach. Spleens don't seem to do very much for taking up all that room. You can have your spleen removed entirely and it won't kill you, although you will need some medical adjustment. You wonder why we even have a spleen.
That's as much medical news as most people want, so let's do the politics, specifically Barak Obama and his church and his pastor. I've heard so much discussion about this but nobody seems to include Mrs. Obama in the speculation.
The Obamas have a very good marriage of more than twenty years, and two young daughters. The evidence for that is that we don't know much about it -- the vigilant press corps would instantly exploit the minutest difference or disagreement between these two, but you couldn't slip a piece of paper between Michelle and Barak -- they are united in purpose and it looks like love to me. And they have kept their private life private, which is a blessing to themselves and to the American voter.
It is a faithful union. Michelle is a very good-looking woman. On top of that, she's dangerous when she's mad. For those reasons, there is no way that Barak is going to be chasing interns around the Oval Office. He will be coming home every night, because he has a very good home to come home to.
Michelle has been left out of the pastor flap. But don't you think it was her idea to join that church 20 years ago? It fits her persona, not his. Barak is not a religious man -- not like Jimmy Carter who taught Sunday school. Barak is more like many men who settle down with a good wife in a good neighborhood and go to church every Sunday because it's a good thing to do.
Rush and the right wing radio rodeo have been riding him hard on the pastor thing. But it still comes down to guilt by association, as Jack Kemp said to Sean Hannity today. If we judge Obama, let it be for his own words and his own deeds.
I just wish the Clintons would go away. I turned against the Clintons in 1996, so I have been steady on this -- nor am I recruiting people to join my animus. You all can make up your own minds.
My friend Bob says he misses John Edwards. Edwards represented a fairly standard progressive program, and a style that was combative but friendly. I think he would have been the best to represent that point of view -- with the least personal baggage, I mean. Edwards had the very big house and the $400 haircut going against him, but otherwise -- I mean, everybody has something.
The Invisible Man in this campaign season is George Bush. The Republicans NEVER mention his name, and that silence is very expressive.
I do advise all Frog Hospital readers to pace yourselves in this long campaign year. The Obamas are spending the Easter weekend in a tropical hideaway, and I hope they are not discussing politics.
Happy Easter,
But today I stopped by the lab to learn further -- they put the blood into a machine that spins and separates the components, and then into another machine that measures electrolytes, for example -- the sodium and potassium levels -- or another machine that does a CBC, a Complete Blood Count. This link to Wikipedia explains that.
I like Wikipedia for explaining medical terms. I read medical journals at the hospital's library. The articles are often very dense, but I stop to look up terms on Wikipedia and then keep going.
The blood words are some of my favorites -- erythrocytes, leukocytes, basinophils, macrophages, and the always popular hemoglobin -- that's beginner's stuff. Blood is complicated, and every single component can go wrong, and get you out of whack and very sick. That's why they do so much testing at the hospital.
The other thing about blood that is a marvel to me is its source -- red blood cells are produced in the bone marrow -- but why? You would think there might be some kind of sack near your liver that pumped out red blood cells on demand -- but why does blood come from bones?
There is some production of red blood cells in the spleen, as a back up source. The spleen weighs about five ounces and it's tucked up high and behind your stomach. Spleens don't seem to do very much for taking up all that room. You can have your spleen removed entirely and it won't kill you, although you will need some medical adjustment. You wonder why we even have a spleen.
That's as much medical news as most people want, so let's do the politics, specifically Barak Obama and his church and his pastor. I've heard so much discussion about this but nobody seems to include Mrs. Obama in the speculation.
The Obamas have a very good marriage of more than twenty years, and two young daughters. The evidence for that is that we don't know much about it -- the vigilant press corps would instantly exploit the minutest difference or disagreement between these two, but you couldn't slip a piece of paper between Michelle and Barak -- they are united in purpose and it looks like love to me. And they have kept their private life private, which is a blessing to themselves and to the American voter.
It is a faithful union. Michelle is a very good-looking woman. On top of that, she's dangerous when she's mad. For those reasons, there is no way that Barak is going to be chasing interns around the Oval Office. He will be coming home every night, because he has a very good home to come home to.
Michelle has been left out of the pastor flap. But don't you think it was her idea to join that church 20 years ago? It fits her persona, not his. Barak is not a religious man -- not like Jimmy Carter who taught Sunday school. Barak is more like many men who settle down with a good wife in a good neighborhood and go to church every Sunday because it's a good thing to do.
Rush and the right wing radio rodeo have been riding him hard on the pastor thing. But it still comes down to guilt by association, as Jack Kemp said to Sean Hannity today. If we judge Obama, let it be for his own words and his own deeds.
I just wish the Clintons would go away. I turned against the Clintons in 1996, so I have been steady on this -- nor am I recruiting people to join my animus. You all can make up your own minds.
My friend Bob says he misses John Edwards. Edwards represented a fairly standard progressive program, and a style that was combative but friendly. I think he would have been the best to represent that point of view -- with the least personal baggage, I mean. Edwards had the very big house and the $400 haircut going against him, but otherwise -- I mean, everybody has something.
The Invisible Man in this campaign season is George Bush. The Republicans NEVER mention his name, and that silence is very expressive.
I do advise all Frog Hospital readers to pace yourselves in this long campaign year. The Obamas are spending the Easter weekend in a tropical hideaway, and I hope they are not discussing politics.
Happy Easter,
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Health Care issues
People keep asking me about the election -- so much has been going on since Hillary and Obama had a dead heat in the Texas and Ohio primaries. Mostly it's been a lot of noise and not worth mentioning.
The same with Gov. Eliot Spitzer's fall from grace. He had a problem, he resigned, and that's all there is to it. I enjoy reading titillating material, but I have other sources for that.
Elected officials should resign whenever their personal lives intrude on their public service -- even if they are innocent. I believe in the abundance of talent -- meaning we can all be replaced, meaning that no governor or president is uniquely qualified to hold the job -- there are plenty of people waiting in the wings who are just as good.
That argues strongly against the Clintons -- their personal lives grossly intruded on the public space in 1998 during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. They should have resigned. Al Gore could have taken over and served as well as the Clintons.
But I give Hillary credit for being co-President back then -- which is why I don't support her now. The Clintons had their 8 years. Nobody gets to move back into the White House. As for Bill, he should remember that ex-Presidents should be seen and not heard. He needs a life -- I suggest fly fishing.
Now comes the tape-recorded rantings of the gravel-voiced preacher from the South Side of Chicago. People are shocked that Barak Obama sat in this man's church for 20 years, but that's how some preachers talk in that part of town. It's nothing new -- not to anybody who has spent time on the South Side -- this is a uniquely American neighborhood, a rich proving ground for Obama's talent. Talk about a "lifetime of experience," one summer on the South Side is worth a lifetime in the suburbs.
And Old John McCain is spending the weekend in Iraq -- his 8th trip. He knows the territory well and he's staking his campaign on victory. He might choose Mitt Romney as his VP. That will give McCain some economic heft, but what excites me is getting Condaleeza Rice on the ticket. Now there's a woman! Let's get Condi in a debate with Hillary -- brains? stamina? fighting spirit? Who wins that one?
Okay, that's a roundup of the current nonsense, so let's talk about Health Care. Hillary and Obama propose that the federal government supply health insurance to over 40 million uninsured Americans. Further debate between them over the details are pointless. The real debate is with McCain, and it gets down to who is going to pay for it. McCain advocates free market solutions, he also advocates state-by-state remedies.
One hopes for a serious argument about this.
All I have to say about this is that the lack of insurance is not the only health care problem in America. Here's a few more:
The nursing shortage: Doctors are wonderful people -- they diagnose, they make decisions, and they give directions. But it's nurses who do the work. Nurses are the heart,soul, and muscle of health care -- and more than half the brains, if you ask me. But, got to the website of any hospital in the country and click the link on "career opportunities." You will find dozens of unfilled RN positions. That means short-staffing. That means over-worked, tired nurses looking after your mother.
Of course, when we get Hillary or Barak's national health care plan in place, that will solve the problem. But what is this? They have a nursing shortage in Canada and in England, too.
The nursing shortage is caused by increased career opportunities for women -- a growing problem in the developed world. Nursing is a hard job, and there are easier ways to make a living. A massive pay raise might work, or else we kidnap every available woman in the Phillipines and bring them over here.
An epidemic of childhood diseases. A rising rate of childhood asthma, childhood diabetes, and childhood obesity. This is very perplexing. Why is this happening? How can it be prevented? There's a lot of wild guesses of about complex environmental causes for these diseases, but honest people should admit to being stumped. This should not be happening in our ever-so-prosperous country. But Hillary doesn't have the solution, neither does Barak or old John.
Too many old people. I'm referring to myself and my generational cohorts. You think we have a nursing shortage now? But new hordes are coming down the health care pipeline -- a generation slipping into their dotage and still sadly called "Baby Boomers."
And just one more, malpractice. It's really nuts. What do lawyers know about medicine? I never go to see a lawyer when I'm sick, I prefer going to a doctor. Of course, doctors should face consequences for their errors, and be accountable to the public for their negligence, but there has to be a better way.
That's all I have to say. On a personal note, I had a wonderful time visiting my daughter in Texas and catching the election. Just a bit of sunshine makes all the difference. I am back to work full-time at the local hospital, where I have been employed since last autumn. I also expect to do a bit of landscaping for my regular customers this spring.
All, the best, and God bless America,
The same with Gov. Eliot Spitzer's fall from grace. He had a problem, he resigned, and that's all there is to it. I enjoy reading titillating material, but I have other sources for that.
Elected officials should resign whenever their personal lives intrude on their public service -- even if they are innocent. I believe in the abundance of talent -- meaning we can all be replaced, meaning that no governor or president is uniquely qualified to hold the job -- there are plenty of people waiting in the wings who are just as good.
That argues strongly against the Clintons -- their personal lives grossly intruded on the public space in 1998 during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. They should have resigned. Al Gore could have taken over and served as well as the Clintons.
But I give Hillary credit for being co-President back then -- which is why I don't support her now. The Clintons had their 8 years. Nobody gets to move back into the White House. As for Bill, he should remember that ex-Presidents should be seen and not heard. He needs a life -- I suggest fly fishing.
Now comes the tape-recorded rantings of the gravel-voiced preacher from the South Side of Chicago. People are shocked that Barak Obama sat in this man's church for 20 years, but that's how some preachers talk in that part of town. It's nothing new -- not to anybody who has spent time on the South Side -- this is a uniquely American neighborhood, a rich proving ground for Obama's talent. Talk about a "lifetime of experience," one summer on the South Side is worth a lifetime in the suburbs.
And Old John McCain is spending the weekend in Iraq -- his 8th trip. He knows the territory well and he's staking his campaign on victory. He might choose Mitt Romney as his VP. That will give McCain some economic heft, but what excites me is getting Condaleeza Rice on the ticket. Now there's a woman! Let's get Condi in a debate with Hillary -- brains? stamina? fighting spirit? Who wins that one?
Okay, that's a roundup of the current nonsense, so let's talk about Health Care. Hillary and Obama propose that the federal government supply health insurance to over 40 million uninsured Americans. Further debate between them over the details are pointless. The real debate is with McCain, and it gets down to who is going to pay for it. McCain advocates free market solutions, he also advocates state-by-state remedies.
One hopes for a serious argument about this.
All I have to say about this is that the lack of insurance is not the only health care problem in America. Here's a few more:
The nursing shortage: Doctors are wonderful people -- they diagnose, they make decisions, and they give directions. But it's nurses who do the work. Nurses are the heart,soul, and muscle of health care -- and more than half the brains, if you ask me. But, got to the website of any hospital in the country and click the link on "career opportunities." You will find dozens of unfilled RN positions. That means short-staffing. That means over-worked, tired nurses looking after your mother.
Of course, when we get Hillary or Barak's national health care plan in place, that will solve the problem. But what is this? They have a nursing shortage in Canada and in England, too.
The nursing shortage is caused by increased career opportunities for women -- a growing problem in the developed world. Nursing is a hard job, and there are easier ways to make a living. A massive pay raise might work, or else we kidnap every available woman in the Phillipines and bring them over here.
An epidemic of childhood diseases. A rising rate of childhood asthma, childhood diabetes, and childhood obesity. This is very perplexing. Why is this happening? How can it be prevented? There's a lot of wild guesses of about complex environmental causes for these diseases, but honest people should admit to being stumped. This should not be happening in our ever-so-prosperous country. But Hillary doesn't have the solution, neither does Barak or old John.
Too many old people. I'm referring to myself and my generational cohorts. You think we have a nursing shortage now? But new hordes are coming down the health care pipeline -- a generation slipping into their dotage and still sadly called "Baby Boomers."
And just one more, malpractice. It's really nuts. What do lawyers know about medicine? I never go to see a lawyer when I'm sick, I prefer going to a doctor. Of course, doctors should face consequences for their errors, and be accountable to the public for their negligence, but there has to be a better way.
That's all I have to say. On a personal note, I had a wonderful time visiting my daughter in Texas and catching the election. Just a bit of sunshine makes all the difference. I am back to work full-time at the local hospital, where I have been employed since last autumn. I also expect to do a bit of landscaping for my regular customers this spring.
All, the best, and God bless America,
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Today's Medical Fact
Today's very important medical fact is that you can wear a hat in bed -- almost any kind of hat, except, possibly, a very broad-brimmed hat which might get crushed in the back. Still, you could wear a cowboy hat in bed, if you were a cowboy or wanted to be like one, or a frilly ladies hat with feathers.
I am mentioning hats, as possible, because at this hospital where I work -- you WILL get into out standard hospital gown, with your butt hanging out in the breeeze. You will not be wearing street clothes, nor shoes, nor pants, nor a belt, or a shirt or a blouse or a dress -- none of that.
But you can wear a hat.
I am mentioning hats, as possible, because at this hospital where I work -- you WILL get into out standard hospital gown, with your butt hanging out in the breeeze. You will not be wearing street clothes, nor shoes, nor pants, nor a belt, or a shirt or a blouse or a dress -- none of that.
But you can wear a hat.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Brooke Army Medical Center
Brook Army Medical Center (BAMC) is a Level I Trauma Center at Fort Sam Houston, just outside of San Antonio, Texas.
If you are unlucky enough to mangle your body in a car wreck, you could at least plan to do that in the San Antonio area. They have three Level I Trauma Centers -- BAMC, Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base, and the University of Texas Medical Center.
Seattle, with a larger overall population, has one Level I Trauma Center at Harborview in down town Seattle. Harborview is owned by King County, and managed as a teaching hospital by the University of Washington. All staff are university employees, all physicians are medical school faculty.
Level I Trauma means they have a team of surgeons, burn specialists and so forth on site 24 hours a day.
If you are unlucky enough to mangle your body in a car wreck, you could at least plan to do that in the San Antonio area. They have three Level I Trauma Centers -- BAMC, Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base, and the University of Texas Medical Center.
Seattle, with a larger overall population, has one Level I Trauma Center at Harborview in down town Seattle. Harborview is owned by King County, and managed as a teaching hospital by the University of Washington. All staff are university employees, all physicians are medical school faculty.
Level I Trauma means they have a team of surgeons, burn specialists and so forth on site 24 hours a day.
Nobody knows Anything
--written on the eve of the Texas primary--
I made it down to Texas to look at the primary. I've been in Austin the past few days. The excitement in the air is electric. I have spoken to Obama's people -- they're having so much fun, they think they're winning. I have spoken to Hillary's people -- they are steadfast, determined and conceding nothing.
It's really all about the Democrats this week and how much Texans love the attention. Famously insecure, the flipside of their bragging nature, Texans need to know that we all love them. They need to know we think they are important. So I speak for many in saying this: "Texas, we love you, you are very important, and we wait breathlessly for your decision."
Ohioans -- they 're important too, of course, but their nature is self-deprecating. They don't need love and attention -- they just want jobs.
Okay, Hillary -- this is bad luck -- moved her state headquarters office into an empty building on Ben White Blvd on the south side of town, but what all the locals know is that Kinky Friedman, the ridiculous candidate for Texas Governor, used that same building in 2006. Really bad Ju-ju for Hillary.
Obama, in contrast, took up space on the second floor of a bank building for his state headquarters. I paid seven dollars to park my car nearby, just so I could drop in to visit. A media relations guy came out from a warren of back offices and blew me off in two minutes. I wasn't important enough to get his attention -- not representing any big media, not representing any newspaper that he had heard of. Unfair of me, but I marked down Obama's people for Failure to Greet.
Meanwhile Hillary is getting slammed by Maureen Dowd and the whole staff of the NY Times -- Dowd's column is her own opinion, but the highly dubious "analysis" stories on the front page, stating that Hillary hasn't got a chance, and making all kinds of unfounded characterizations about her -- it's kind of weird. There's a place for subjective impressions, but it's not news. I figure they got Obama hype despite themselves, but it's not fair to Hillary.
Also, it's not Obama's fault. He gets better all the time and he is too smart to believe all that Obama hype himself. I heard him at a rally in Austin on Thursday morning. First he gave his standrad stump speech -- I've heard it before. But then he fielded questions from the crowd, getting hit with a wide variety of challenges, and he handled them well -- giving substantive answers and responding to that criticism.
Tom Brokaw came to Austin last week to do a segment on the youth vote, which leans heavily toward Obama, especially in Austin. This is true -- the kids are out it in force -- but pardon me for not getting excited when I hear a 24-year-old graduate student gushing, "I'm going to vote! I'm even going to make phone calls!" Am I supposed to be impressed? Big whoop.
"Nobody Knows Anything." Nobody knows who is going to win the primary on Tuesday, and they are so deeply certain that they don't know that they won't even make a guess. We're all just sitting here -- those of us who aren't madly campaigning and doorbelling -- sitting here with our mouths open, saying dumb things like, "Gee, isn't this something?"
The Republicans were feeling lonely, so I stopped by their state headquarters and visited with the executive director of the party. He said they like their man, McCain, and they'll take their chances. Rush Limbaugh's kinky ploy to get Republicans to vote for Hillary in order to stop Obama -- that one died. The New York Times published second-rate innuendo about McCain's love-life --- give us a photo with the babe sitting on McCain's lap, otherwise shut up. The last bit of GOP news is how excited they get thinking about getting Condaleeza Rice to take the VP slot. Of course, she doesn't want the nomination -- but if they get her on the ticket, with her reputation and her magic two-fer qualities -- I can see her challenging Obama, "Hey, Barak, your mamma's ugly and you're dog can't fight!"
But that's all the Republican news.
So we will all know in 48 hours, but right now, "Nobody Knows Anything."
What a country -- I love this election.
I made it down to Texas to look at the primary. I've been in Austin the past few days. The excitement in the air is electric. I have spoken to Obama's people -- they're having so much fun, they think they're winning. I have spoken to Hillary's people -- they are steadfast, determined and conceding nothing.
It's really all about the Democrats this week and how much Texans love the attention. Famously insecure, the flipside of their bragging nature, Texans need to know that we all love them. They need to know we think they are important. So I speak for many in saying this: "Texas, we love you, you are very important, and we wait breathlessly for your decision."
Ohioans -- they 're important too, of course, but their nature is self-deprecating. They don't need love and attention -- they just want jobs.
Okay, Hillary -- this is bad luck -- moved her state headquarters office into an empty building on Ben White Blvd on the south side of town, but what all the locals know is that Kinky Friedman, the ridiculous candidate for Texas Governor, used that same building in 2006. Really bad Ju-ju for Hillary.
Obama, in contrast, took up space on the second floor of a bank building for his state headquarters. I paid seven dollars to park my car nearby, just so I could drop in to visit. A media relations guy came out from a warren of back offices and blew me off in two minutes. I wasn't important enough to get his attention -- not representing any big media, not representing any newspaper that he had heard of. Unfair of me, but I marked down Obama's people for Failure to Greet.
Meanwhile Hillary is getting slammed by Maureen Dowd and the whole staff of the NY Times -- Dowd's column is her own opinion, but the highly dubious "analysis" stories on the front page, stating that Hillary hasn't got a chance, and making all kinds of unfounded characterizations about her -- it's kind of weird. There's a place for subjective impressions, but it's not news. I figure they got Obama hype despite themselves, but it's not fair to Hillary.
Also, it's not Obama's fault. He gets better all the time and he is too smart to believe all that Obama hype himself. I heard him at a rally in Austin on Thursday morning. First he gave his standrad stump speech -- I've heard it before. But then he fielded questions from the crowd, getting hit with a wide variety of challenges, and he handled them well -- giving substantive answers and responding to that criticism.
Tom Brokaw came to Austin last week to do a segment on the youth vote, which leans heavily toward Obama, especially in Austin. This is true -- the kids are out it in force -- but pardon me for not getting excited when I hear a 24-year-old graduate student gushing, "I'm going to vote! I'm even going to make phone calls!" Am I supposed to be impressed? Big whoop.
"Nobody Knows Anything." Nobody knows who is going to win the primary on Tuesday, and they are so deeply certain that they don't know that they won't even make a guess. We're all just sitting here -- those of us who aren't madly campaigning and doorbelling -- sitting here with our mouths open, saying dumb things like, "Gee, isn't this something?"
The Republicans were feeling lonely, so I stopped by their state headquarters and visited with the executive director of the party. He said they like their man, McCain, and they'll take their chances. Rush Limbaugh's kinky ploy to get Republicans to vote for Hillary in order to stop Obama -- that one died. The New York Times published second-rate innuendo about McCain's love-life --- give us a photo with the babe sitting on McCain's lap, otherwise shut up. The last bit of GOP news is how excited they get thinking about getting Condaleeza Rice to take the VP slot. Of course, she doesn't want the nomination -- but if they get her on the ticket, with her reputation and her magic two-fer qualities -- I can see her challenging Obama, "Hey, Barak, your mamma's ugly and you're dog can't fight!"
But that's all the Republican news.
So we will all know in 48 hours, but right now, "Nobody Knows Anything."
What a country -- I love this election.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
The truth about bananas
It was in the breakroom at the Emergency Department. The question of bananas had come up because a female patient in one of the behavioral (locked) rooms had requested a banana. So Sydney, the Emergency Tech, had gone down to the cafeteria and came back with two very ripe bananas.
That's when I raised the question, "Is it ever wrong to eat a banana?" My thinking being that bananas were close being a perfect good. But I 'm in health care now, in medicine, so we have to be scientific and test the null hypothesis. Maybe, sometimes, bananas could be bad for you.
Sydney brightened up with the answer, "Bananas have potassium, so if you're hyperkalemic, then bananas won't be good for you."
A good point, I said. That means that bananas are good to eat almost all the time.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Should hospitals look like hospitals?
I really like this photo. It looks like a hospital. But the trend now is to make hospitals -- rooms, corridors, entrances, waiting rooms -- look like something else, something homey and warm, something that doesn't look like where a sick person would go."It's not about sickness, it's about wellness! So let's bring in some paintings and potted plants and softly bubbling aquariums."
That's okay. I'm down with this new attitude. We have soft colors and carpeted corridors at the hospital where I work, softer lines, and so forth. It doesn't look anything like what you see in this photo.
But the image in this photo is so strong -- of the old-style hospital, the long straight corridor, the antiseptic, heavenly glow of the flouresecent lights, the shining floor clean enough to eat off, and that yellow door down at the end -- What's going on behind that door?
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Now, a Real Hospital
In a fortuitous change of circumstances, Fred Owens, the author of Frog Hospital, is now working at a real hospital. I have been negotiating with the marketing and communications wing of the hospital about what to write -- I am an employee, not an objective journalist, as far as that goes.
My job at the hospital involves patient care. I like the work and I'm very good at it.
In my off hours, I study the medical journals and databases. It's a vast field and I have been learning quite a bit -- I just spent the last three hours learning about liver biopsies.
I could spend the rest of my life just focusing on one thing like liver biospies, but right now I am reading and studying very broadly -- first to get the big picture -- and then to focus on a specific topic -- blood is very interesting, bones are cool -- there's a lot of work out there in health care, and a lot to write about.
Stay tuned.
My job at the hospital involves patient care. I like the work and I'm very good at it.
In my off hours, I study the medical journals and databases. It's a vast field and I have been learning quite a bit -- I just spent the last three hours learning about liver biopsies.
I could spend the rest of my life just focusing on one thing like liver biospies, but right now I am reading and studying very broadly -- first to get the big picture -- and then to focus on a specific topic -- blood is very interesting, bones are cool -- there's a lot of work out there in health care, and a lot to write about.
Stay tuned.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
The Woman who drives a Yellow Car
I had lunch with the Woman who drives a Yellow Car. I gave her a very nice piece of driftwood and she liked it. We discussed art, particularly the life and works of Kevin Paul and Charlie Krafft.
Kevin Paul is not well and could use plenty of support at this time -- he has been such a fine friend and such a wonderful sculptor. Charlie has the intention of making a visit of several days duration to the Skagit Valley. He has been living in a small house/studio on Beacon Hill for the past 11 years. Charlie is renowned as the former mayor of Fishtown and should provide a much needed stimulus to our local art world.
Sabbatical
I have not written a word in months -- what a relief. Instead, I have been doing embroidery, which utilizes the ten fingers quite well, without the bother of publishing and facing a hostile world. Instead I have a selection of my fine needlework to enjoy.
A message to those many people who have responded to a previous post titled "Christopher Columbus was a Very Bad Man." Apparently, you read it literally, which is your business, but I wrote it as a satire, a send-up of revisionist history.
My own view of Christopher Columbus is traditional. I admire the man and what he did. I subscribe to the view of Samuel Elliot Morrison in his biography of Columbus.
A message to those many people who have responded to a previous post titled "Christopher Columbus was a Very Bad Man." Apparently, you read it literally, which is your business, but I wrote it as a satire, a send-up of revisionist history.
My own view of Christopher Columbus is traditional. I admire the man and what he did. I subscribe to the view of Samuel Elliot Morrison in his biography of Columbus.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Snow Geese in flight
Snow Geese on Fir Island, near the house where I live. It was cold and windy this morning -- too rough for a walk with the dog, but I loaded firewood onto the front porch, where it's handy to the stove. Then I raked out some debris on the driveway -- just to neaten it up and get my blood flowing. I continued to work on my embroidered sweater. It's an old brown sweater that I used for landscaping last spring, but I have recycled it into a wearable work of art, with embroidered designs front and back and on the sleeves. The theme is the valuation of old things -- old sweaters and such -- we don't throw them away.
The designs on the sweater are all about the Weather -- lightning, rainfall, the moon, the sun, snowflakes, and then a twisting vine growing up the right sleeve.
Today I completed the moon on the front of the sweater and then I did what I should have done before I started this project -- namely to wash the sweater and get it clean. Anyway, it wasn't too late to soak it in hot water in the kitchen sink and give it a gentle hand washing and rinse. Then I draped it over the railing on the back porch -- it should be mostly dry by when I come home this evening. Then I'll lay it on a towel for the final drying.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Another Day
I came home from work last night at 11:30 p.m., and made some herb tea with honey. I brought the steaming cup into bed with me and read a book, falling asleep by 12:30.
It wasn't too cold, but in the middle of the night I deployed my extra wool blanket. Otherwise I slept pretty good and woke up at 8:30, well after daylight. I reached out from under the covers and switched on the space heater to get some warmth into the room, and then ten minutes later I got up and put on my extra-thick hooded sweatshirt and my thickest wool socks.
Not really warm, but getting there, I padded into the kitchen and fixed a pot of coffee. I use an old-fashioned percolator that makes only two cups. I went outside to look at the day -- rainy, but not too cold, and not too windy -- easier weather.
By the time the coffee was ready, the space heater had gotten my bedroom a little warm, so I sat in my deck chair, which has the Lone Star flag emblazoned on the back of it -- a souvenir of my year in Texas.
I got comfortable in the chair with the hot coffee and switched on the radio. I tried Air America, but that morning woman talks too fast, so I switched over to Laura Ingraham on 1300 AM, she's a conservative. I like the sound of her voice, which is the most important thing, especially first thing in the morning. I forget what she was talking about.
I wrote about three sentences in my journal, but I realized I had little to say, so I put that down and picked up my embroidery hoop. I continued to work on an 8-inch hoop of embroidery I am making for a Christmas gift. Embroidery is a new hobby of mine and it's very relaxing -- it keeps my fingers and my mind busy without actually having to think.
Thinking is good, but thinking gets bad when you go over the same ground again and again, so it's better for me to keep up with my stitches.
My next project was to take Patti's dog for a walk. Patti is my roommate and landlady. She has a very fine dog named Pharoah, a female, just the right size, not too big and not too small, a lively, friendly dog with very good manners.
So I bundled up and headed out the door with Pharoah jumping along side me. By now it was raining hard, and a walk wouldn't do, but fortunately we had an outdoor project -- stacking the wood.
The wood guy came yesterday and dumped a cord onto the pavement under the carport, so I began to stack it up, and there was some good exercise. Pretty soon I took off my jacket, but I reminded myself to work slowly.
I got about one-third of the pile stacked up when Patti came out and said she didn't feel too good and couldn't help and said I had probably done enough for one day, so I said fine.
I haven't lived in a house with wood heat in 17 years -- since we had the old farm on Martin Road in Mount Vernon.
Wood heat makes a project out of keeping warm -- it’s something you do yourself, rather than flip a switch and pay a bill -- so the work is satisfying and the heat is a pleasure, especially in the evening, when it gets dark outside and it starts to get really toasty in the living room.
But the other thing about Fir Island is the birds, the huge flocks of snow geese that lie in pastures on both sides of the house. I go out and watch them. They sit in the field -- must be four or five thousand of them, I can’t tell -- they are pure white except for the black tips on their wings, and their necks are shorter than the trumpeter swans that also winter around here.
Honking and honking, talking about who knows what, always chattering, even in the night-time, they keep up a hubble-bubble squawking of a high-pitched nature -- maybe some coyote out working the edge of the flock in the deep of night makes them nervous.
The hunters are out in the early dawn. They have elaborate regulations about where and how to hunt the snow geese. All I know is hearing the muffled pop-pop-pop of their shotguns, and sometimes out walking I come across a pile of feathers that once was a goose, but somebody got it -- the coyote or the hunter.
In back of the house is a slough with beavers and otters. They have a slinky trail that comes up from the slough and slithers into the raspberry patch. It’s probably a beaver because of the chewing marks on the tree by the slough. I don’t know. If I keep going out there I might see it.
On top of it all is the eagles; two of them, one bald-headed, and the other is a juvenile with black feathers mottled with white. They use the cottonwood trees in back of the house for a roost. You can see them there almost anytime of day, they just come around and perch there for a while and then go somewhere else.
Otherwise, the traffic on Fir Island Road streams by on a steady basis, so many thousands of cars every day. It’s a fairly busy road, but you don’t see much from the car. This I have learned, because for many years I have driven across Fir Island on my way to somewhere else, but I never really knew the place until now that I live there and get out walking.
It wasn't too cold, but in the middle of the night I deployed my extra wool blanket. Otherwise I slept pretty good and woke up at 8:30, well after daylight. I reached out from under the covers and switched on the space heater to get some warmth into the room, and then ten minutes later I got up and put on my extra-thick hooded sweatshirt and my thickest wool socks.
Not really warm, but getting there, I padded into the kitchen and fixed a pot of coffee. I use an old-fashioned percolator that makes only two cups. I went outside to look at the day -- rainy, but not too cold, and not too windy -- easier weather.
By the time the coffee was ready, the space heater had gotten my bedroom a little warm, so I sat in my deck chair, which has the Lone Star flag emblazoned on the back of it -- a souvenir of my year in Texas.
I got comfortable in the chair with the hot coffee and switched on the radio. I tried Air America, but that morning woman talks too fast, so I switched over to Laura Ingraham on 1300 AM, she's a conservative. I like the sound of her voice, which is the most important thing, especially first thing in the morning. I forget what she was talking about.
I wrote about three sentences in my journal, but I realized I had little to say, so I put that down and picked up my embroidery hoop. I continued to work on an 8-inch hoop of embroidery I am making for a Christmas gift. Embroidery is a new hobby of mine and it's very relaxing -- it keeps my fingers and my mind busy without actually having to think.
Thinking is good, but thinking gets bad when you go over the same ground again and again, so it's better for me to keep up with my stitches.
My next project was to take Patti's dog for a walk. Patti is my roommate and landlady. She has a very fine dog named Pharoah, a female, just the right size, not too big and not too small, a lively, friendly dog with very good manners.
So I bundled up and headed out the door with Pharoah jumping along side me. By now it was raining hard, and a walk wouldn't do, but fortunately we had an outdoor project -- stacking the wood.
The wood guy came yesterday and dumped a cord onto the pavement under the carport, so I began to stack it up, and there was some good exercise. Pretty soon I took off my jacket, but I reminded myself to work slowly.
I got about one-third of the pile stacked up when Patti came out and said she didn't feel too good and couldn't help and said I had probably done enough for one day, so I said fine.
I haven't lived in a house with wood heat in 17 years -- since we had the old farm on Martin Road in Mount Vernon.
Wood heat makes a project out of keeping warm -- it’s something you do yourself, rather than flip a switch and pay a bill -- so the work is satisfying and the heat is a pleasure, especially in the evening, when it gets dark outside and it starts to get really toasty in the living room.
But the other thing about Fir Island is the birds, the huge flocks of snow geese that lie in pastures on both sides of the house. I go out and watch them. They sit in the field -- must be four or five thousand of them, I can’t tell -- they are pure white except for the black tips on their wings, and their necks are shorter than the trumpeter swans that also winter around here.
Honking and honking, talking about who knows what, always chattering, even in the night-time, they keep up a hubble-bubble squawking of a high-pitched nature -- maybe some coyote out working the edge of the flock in the deep of night makes them nervous.
The hunters are out in the early dawn. They have elaborate regulations about where and how to hunt the snow geese. All I know is hearing the muffled pop-pop-pop of their shotguns, and sometimes out walking I come across a pile of feathers that once was a goose, but somebody got it -- the coyote or the hunter.
In back of the house is a slough with beavers and otters. They have a slinky trail that comes up from the slough and slithers into the raspberry patch. It’s probably a beaver because of the chewing marks on the tree by the slough. I don’t know. If I keep going out there I might see it.
On top of it all is the eagles; two of them, one bald-headed, and the other is a juvenile with black feathers mottled with white. They use the cottonwood trees in back of the house for a roost. You can see them there almost anytime of day, they just come around and perch there for a while and then go somewhere else.
Otherwise, the traffic on Fir Island Road streams by on a steady basis, so many thousands of cars every day. It’s a fairly busy road, but you don’t see much from the car. This I have learned, because for many years I have driven across Fir Island on my way to somewhere else, but I never really knew the place until now that I live there and get out walking.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Fir Island
Fir Island is shaped like a triangle, 6 miles on a side. One side is the North Fork of the Skagit River, one side is the South Fork of the Skagit River, and the third side is Skagit Bay. See, the river comes down from the mountains and gets broad and deep, but then it splits into two branches forming this triangular delta.
It used to be all salt marsh and fir trees. The trees were logged, the land was diked, and it now makes for rich farmland with an abundance of birdlife -- although no more fir trees -- just cabbage fields, and pea fields, and wheat.
It's a windy place, the wind comes right off the bay with no trees or hills to slow it down. Or else it comes straight up from the south -- blowing strongly, but the south wind is warm.
Today it's not very windy, but a light snow is falling. We hadn't started a fire yet in the old farmhouse, so I headed into LaConner, to get on my laptop at the bookstore. I got a nice latte and I'm sitting in this soft chair by a gas fireplace.
The day has been pretty low key.
It used to be all salt marsh and fir trees. The trees were logged, the land was diked, and it now makes for rich farmland with an abundance of birdlife -- although no more fir trees -- just cabbage fields, and pea fields, and wheat.
It's a windy place, the wind comes right off the bay with no trees or hills to slow it down. Or else it comes straight up from the south -- blowing strongly, but the south wind is warm.
Today it's not very windy, but a light snow is falling. We hadn't started a fire yet in the old farmhouse, so I headed into LaConner, to get on my laptop at the bookstore. I got a nice latte and I'm sitting in this soft chair by a gas fireplace.
The day has been pretty low key.
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