I now have a working Ubuntu Linux 12.04.2 LTS machine, a probably 5-year-old PowerSpec retired when I retired, functional and effectively free, but at a cost: the install DVD (downloaded .ISO) insists that it could not install Ubuntu Linux so it could cohabit with Windows XP. It may be something was wrong with Windows (it was virus-ridden; that's why I retired that already somewhat old computer in the first place), but I had to sacrifice that copy of all my photos. I have several backups if I can only find them. That's one of many things I need to look for. Oh well, at least this box is noticeably faster... Blogger's editor no longer drags down; both processor and memory are adequate to the task.
I did my exercises today. I can really feel the effects, positive and otherwise. Daily exercise is a foreign notion to many programmers, especially old guys like me. But if I want to stay alive and walk on my own two feet (one natural, one purchased), I have to do it.
Time to look for a few more missing items for the computer... sigh!
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
I Walked Today
... on two feet... for the first time since mid-December. I walked about a dozen steps forward between room-length parallel bars, and a dozen steps back... twice. I walked in a test of the prototype (apparently very nearly complete) of my new prosthesis. I walked fully upright, with confident stability, but unsurprisingly with some discomfort. I walked s.l.o.w.l.y. I've seldom taken such pleasure in walking two dozen steps in my life. In two or three weeks I'll begin training on the proper use of the prosthesis.
My general physical therapy... rehab... continues tomorrow. Soon I will receive my prosthesis and begin bringing it to rehab sessions to be trained in its use. It's going to be a long... walk. But I feel genuine hope for the first time in ages. Now that is hope I can believe in!
My general physical therapy... rehab... continues tomorrow. Soon I will receive my prosthesis and begin bringing it to rehab sessions to be trained in its use. It's going to be a long... walk. But I feel genuine hope for the first time in ages. Now that is hope I can believe in!
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
The Putts Putz Stopped Here
... and probably not just the putz, but more than a few bucks, stopped here: Last weekend, Obama golfed with oil executives, at the very moment 40,000 protesters besieged the White House regarding the Keystone XL pipeline.
An old union song from almost a century ago came to my mind: Which Side Are You On? (YouTube, Pete Seeger) One could well ask Obama that question, based not only on his campaign promises and inaugural speech, but even on the climate change references in his State of the Union speech... and I, at least, would not feel a great deal of confidence if he were to answer, "Yours!"
It's time to prove that, Mr. President. Stop playing with the petroleum pro's. Stop contributing to climate change!
An old union song from almost a century ago came to my mind: Which Side Are You On? (YouTube, Pete Seeger) One could well ask Obama that question, based not only on his campaign promises and inaugural speech, but even on the climate change references in his State of the Union speech... and I, at least, would not feel a great deal of confidence if he were to answer, "Yours!"
It's time to prove that, Mr. President. Stop playing with the petroleum pro's. Stop contributing to climate change!
Will SCOTUS Kill Voting Rights Act Section 5?
What is Section 5? Sahil Kapur of TPM tells us:
For over 47 years, then, the Voting Rights Act, including Section 5, has stood as the law of the land. And it makes sense: people who are or were, or whose ancestors were, victims of racial injustice that prevented them from voting deserve extra protection from likely present-day attempts to do the same thing to them. You don't think it happens? Really? Are you seeing a solid brown field of view? C'mon, pull it out; look at the real world. Look at Election 2012, and tell me the Voter ID laws in a lot of states weren't in fact an attempt to prevent Blacks, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, First Peoples, etc. from voting. We need the Voting Rights Act... all of it... as much as we did in 1965 when President Johnson signed it on my birthday.
One would think it just makes sense. But not necessarily to this Supreme Court. Justices Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito are almost certain to vote to strike down Section 5, leaving Justice Kennedy in his usual position as swing voter.
It is not right that one man in a position of great power should be able to endanger the right to vote of millions of people with almost no power except their vote. But it may well happen.
Section 5 requires states and municipalities with a history of racial discrimination (read: mostly in the south) to seek preclearance from the Justice Department or a federal court before making changes to their voting laws. The law was upheld in 1966 by a Supreme Court that deemed it valid to correct the “insidious and pervasive evil” of racism. The law was most recently reauthorized in 2006 by a nearly unanimous Congress, with Section 5 intact.
For over 47 years, then, the Voting Rights Act, including Section 5, has stood as the law of the land. And it makes sense: people who are or were, or whose ancestors were, victims of racial injustice that prevented them from voting deserve extra protection from likely present-day attempts to do the same thing to them. You don't think it happens? Really? Are you seeing a solid brown field of view? C'mon, pull it out; look at the real world. Look at Election 2012, and tell me the Voter ID laws in a lot of states weren't in fact an attempt to prevent Blacks, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, First Peoples, etc. from voting. We need the Voting Rights Act... all of it... as much as we did in 1965 when President Johnson signed it on my birthday.
One would think it just makes sense. But not necessarily to this Supreme Court. Justices Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito are almost certain to vote to strike down Section 5, leaving Justice Kennedy in his usual position as swing voter.
It is not right that one man in a position of great power should be able to endanger the right to vote of millions of people with almost no power except their vote. But it may well happen.
Big Surprise: GOP Breaks Its Bargains
Sahil Kapur of TPM tells us: a PowerPoint presentation by the Orange Tan Man himself has surfaced, one which makes it clear that Boehner intended to sell his GOP caucus on voting for the sequester by promising to blame it on Obama. Well, BOHICA. Republicans break their word; what else is new?
Monday, February 18, 2013
Computer Dilemma
My old Ubuntu Linux computer seems truly dead, and believe me, it's too old to bother repairing. This may take a while to resolve. I could...
The one thing in common among all approaches is the "start from scratch" part. Some things are recently backed up, but not everything... major medical woes involving many weeks in hospital tend to impinge on one's best habits and replace them with neglectful ones. Time will tell what is here and what is gone. Patience, readers; patience...
- download a new image, probably Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, install it on another retired computer from my garage, and start from scratch,
- switch to Windows (ugh), buy a cheap machine and again start from scratch, or
- buy a nice Ubuntu laptop at a tidy price (there are some nice ones out there, aimed at developers), and again start from scratch.
The one thing in common among all approaches is the "start from scratch" part. Some things are recently backed up, but not everything... major medical woes involving many weeks in hospital tend to impinge on one's best habits and replace them with neglectful ones. Time will tell what is here and what is gone. Patience, readers; patience...
Sunday, February 17, 2013
(Posted By Email)
Pwr glitches. My comp: dead (hd?). Stella's is ok, but no net connect. May be a while...
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This mobile text message is brought to you by AT&T
UPDATE: Stella's connection is restored. My situation may take a while to resolve.
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This mobile text message is brought to you by AT&T
UPDATE: Stella's connection is restored. My situation may take a while to resolve.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Are They The Same?
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| Wifebeater |
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| Wife Beaters? |
Every Senator who voted against renewal of the Violence Against Women Act was male. And Republican. Draw your own conclusions.
(H/T: Think Progress, via Gilberto Hinojosa, chair of Texas Democratic Party. But any photo of senators voting NO would show the same 22 sorry, despicable faces...)
House Votes To Extend Federal Worker Pay Freeze
In a gesture typical of today's nutjob-controlled House, the House voted to extend the pay freeze on federal workers, already almost three years long, for another nine months. From Bloomberg Businessweek:
The Businessweek article offers this:
In my career, I worked for the state government for about a decade and the private sector for a few decades, concluding with a 20-year period of self-employment, so I've seen the lot. And I can tell you what happens to the most capable of government employees: they jump to the private sector when they have the opportunity. Opportunities may be scarce now, but sooner or later, if Issa and company kick them in the teeth often enough, good federal employees (state employees, too) will leave. Then GOPers can complain about bad government, neglecting to mention that they made it bad...
“We have to make tough choices,” said Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “But let’s remember these are civil servants who are paid pretty darn well.”A Miami Herald AP article cites freeze supporters as claiming the average federal worker's wage plus benefits amounts to "nearly double the median US household income." Note the use of the same old ploy, comparing "average" to "median": a few exceptionally well-paid federal employees can tweak the average pay quite high. Comparing median income to median income would be honest, but this is Darrell Issa and company we're talking about here...
The Businessweek article offers this:
Republican Frank Wolf, whose northern Virginia district includes the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency, yelled on the House floor that the bill would target agents who tracked Osama bin Laden, astronauts, border patrol agents, cancer researchers and Veterans Affairs hospital nurses treating wounded soldiers returning from Afghanistan.In other words, federal employees are not limited to the overstuffed payrolls of members of Congress. Many of them do things most Americans would agree need to be done, even if they are not employed by the military (the troops are explicitly excluded from the House's federal freeze). But even the worthiest are frozen along with the rest.
In my career, I worked for the state government for about a decade and the private sector for a few decades, concluding with a 20-year period of self-employment, so I've seen the lot. And I can tell you what happens to the most capable of government employees: they jump to the private sector when they have the opportunity. Opportunities may be scarce now, but sooner or later, if Issa and company kick them in the teeth often enough, good federal employees (state employees, too) will leave. Then GOPers can complain about bad government, neglecting to mention that they made it bad...
Meteor Hits Russia Steve Hits Floor
OK, the meteor didn't really hit Russia; it exploded over Russia, with a terrifying bang, after which some meteorites did indeed hit Russia. But I did indeed hit the floor: I literally fell out of bed, with a terrifying (for me) crash to the floor. There are no photos or videos of this lesser event; sorry. I bit my upper lip and slightly bruised my good knee; otherwise, I seem undamaged. My stump didn't even have a scratch (thank goodness). The only explanation I can offer is that the bed has a slight crown to it, Stella has put very slick sheets and covers on it, and sometimes I sleep close to the edge. Feel free to make up more entertaining explanations if you like; just remember that I'm in my mid-60s... ☺
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Ockham? Fockham!
Nothing ought to be posited without a reason given, unless it is self-evident or known by experience or proved by the authority of Sacred Scripture.Some of us immediately envision Emily Litella saying, "Oh. Well. That's very different. Never mind!" Scientific explanations simply cannot compete with sacred scripture in authority or simplicity. So unless you're willing to toss out the science with the bathwater... razor away the skin with the beard? ... you may not want to cite Ockham as your authority in simplifying an explanation.
Please go read Vallee's post. It is elegantly laid out, and has nice medieval illustrations including a larger image of the above portrait allegedly of Ockham.
(H/T ellroon, by proximity to another BoingBoing post she linked.)
Fighting Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline, Sierra Club Engages In First-Ever Civil Disobedience - UPDATED
Amy Goodman, publishing on truthdig, has the story. An excerpt from Goodman's post:
Obama, meanwhile, is about as stalwart as... well, as a politician; what can I say. Opinions about his environmentalist credentials vary widely within the community. I, for one, am not impressed. As Dave Lippman said in a broadcast email today, he is "better than Romney." That's not exactly a ringing endorsement, and it's the most I can say about his action (or inaction, or wrong action) on this particular issue.
Stay tuned...
UPDATE: Here's the first of doubtless many shockers: the pipeline has holes in it. Here's Emma Pullman at SumOfUs.org, in a list email:
For the first time in its 120-year history, the Sierra Club engaged in civil disobedience, the day after President Barack Obama gave his 2013 State of the Union address. The group joined scores of others protesting the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which awaits a permitting decision from the Obama administration. The president made significant pledges to address the growing threat of climate change in his speech. But it will take more than words to save the planet from human-induced climate disruption, and a growing, diverse movement is directing its focus on the White House to demand meaningful action.I am long since not a participant in the Sierra Club leadership (though I am still a member and strong supporter of the Club), but I can say with some confidence that the first-ever decision to engage in civil disobedience was doubtless controversial within the leadership. Sierra Club is huge, powerful, sometimes unwieldy, and inevitably a synthesis of diverse factions that run the gamut of styles of environmental activism. No, this was almost certainly not easy. But Sierra Club was only one of dozens of org's engaging in the protests, and the issue couldn't be weightier from the standpoint of environmental consequences if the pipeline goes through.
The Keystone XL pipeline is especially controversial because it will allow the exploitation of Canadian tar sands, considered the dirtiest oil source on the planet. One of the leading voices raising alarm about climate change, James Hansen, the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, wrote of the tar sands in The New York Times last year, “If Canada proceeds, and we do nothing, it will be game over for the climate.” New research by nonprofit Oil Change International indicates that the potential tar-sands impact will be even worse than earlier believed. Because the proposed pipeline crosses the border between the U.S. and Canada, its owner, TransCanada Corp., must receive permission from the U.S. State Department.
...
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| Search Google Images on 'tar sands'. |
Stay tuned...
UPDATE: Here's the first of doubtless many shockers: the pipeline has holes in it. Here's Emma Pullman at SumOfUs.org, in a list email:
20-year-old Isabel Brooks and two of her friends locked themselves inside a segment of the Keystone XL pipeline -- a controversial pipeline being built to carry toxic tar sands oil to the US coast for export -- to protest its construction. While inside the pipe, they discovered something shocking: there are already holes in the Keystone XL pipeline, created by faulty welding.The email goes on to say that TransCanada pipeline contractors hire their own pipeline inspectors. Regrettably this is not unusual in the "awl bidness" (as Texans often pronounce it). They just. don't. give. a. damn.
But moments after snapping a photo of the light coming into the supposedly airtight pipe, Isabel was arrested and held for 24 days in prison. An hour after her arrest, TransCanada laid that segment of pipeline in the ground without inspecting it.
...
News Flash! Republicans Admit Austerity Hurts Employment!
From Paul Krugman (what? you don't like Krugman? hooboy, are you ever reading the wrong blog right now!):
"Weaponized Keynesianism" ... to this have we sunk.
If any government spending creates jobs, all government spending creates jobs. Whether any given government spending is of value to the Republican observer is irrelevant to the fact that it creates jobs. The only problem is getting GOPers to admit it. Indeed, to their likely horror, government spending in support of increasing employment or providing direct benefits to people who are broke surely increases demand more than bankrolling large defense contractors, who are less likely to spend those bucks than poor people. But that fact runs contrary to Republican "philosophy," if one can dignify what they peddle with that term. So we have, as Krugman notes, John Boehner hawking austerity as the solution to the problem he claims he's seen in his 22 years in government. See Krugman's facts to the contrary, facts doubtless toxic to GOPers like Boehner: a goodly chunk of that time was in Bill Clinton's economically very successful presidency.
We can have austerity or prosperity, but we can't have both at once right now. Austerity will undermine demand; lack of demand will undermine prosperity. Now, that wasn't too difficult to understand, was it? One would think even a Republican... never mind.
Even Republicans admit, albeit selectively, that spending cuts hurt employment. Thus John McCain warned earlier this week that the defense cuts scheduled to happen under the budget sequester would cause the loss of a million jobs. It’s true that Republicans often seem to believe in “weaponized Keynesianism,” a doctrine under which military spending, and only military spending, creates jobs. But that is, of course, nonsense. By talking about job losses from defense cuts, the G.O.P. has already conceded the principle of the thing.(Bolds mine. - SB)
"Weaponized Keynesianism" ... to this have we sunk.
If any government spending creates jobs, all government spending creates jobs. Whether any given government spending is of value to the Republican observer is irrelevant to the fact that it creates jobs. The only problem is getting GOPers to admit it. Indeed, to their likely horror, government spending in support of increasing employment or providing direct benefits to people who are broke surely increases demand more than bankrolling large defense contractors, who are less likely to spend those bucks than poor people. But that fact runs contrary to Republican "philosophy," if one can dignify what they peddle with that term. So we have, as Krugman notes, John Boehner hawking austerity as the solution to the problem he claims he's seen in his 22 years in government. See Krugman's facts to the contrary, facts doubtless toxic to GOPers like Boehner: a goodly chunk of that time was in Bill Clinton's economically very successful presidency.
We can have austerity or prosperity, but we can't have both at once right now. Austerity will undermine demand; lack of demand will undermine prosperity. Now, that wasn't too difficult to understand, was it? One would think even a Republican... never mind.
Happy Valentine's Day!
the valentine that really counts
no flowers today, i can't buy 'em or pick 'em;
no greeting cards mailed with no stamps; i can't lick 'em.
no cadbury chocolates, dear; with or without nuts...
no, still, you've got me, love,
no ifs, ands or buts!
one song i'll deliver, not sung, and not cabled;
one rhyme for you, from your devoted disabled.
one year we're not dining at luxury places...
one house and each other,
and faces to faces.
two cats and two food bowls (they share just one litter);
two humans in residence, neither a quitter.
two legs, my dear valentine, now i am lacking...
two feet shall we each have next year...
with your backing!
Happy Valentine's Day, lovely Stella! I love you!
- Steve
2/14/2013
no flowers today, i can't buy 'em or pick 'em;
no greeting cards mailed with no stamps; i can't lick 'em.
no cadbury chocolates, dear; with or without nuts...
no, still, you've got me, love,
no ifs, ands or buts!
one song i'll deliver, not sung, and not cabled;
one rhyme for you, from your devoted disabled.
one year we're not dining at luxury places...
one house and each other,
and faces to faces.
two cats and two food bowls (they share just one litter);
two humans in residence, neither a quitter.
two legs, my dear valentine, now i am lacking...
two feet shall we each have next year...
with your backing!
Happy Valentine's Day, lovely Stella! I love you!
- Steve
2/14/2013
(From the bottom of my heart my heart at the bottom!)
In News Of The Disabled...
Damn. A week ago, I didn't know Pistorius existed. I discovered him as I searched for information on leg and foot prostheses.
Now he's formally charged with murder. Innocent or guilty, he'll probably find his fleet feet won't help him this time.
(Don't expect a similar story out of Our House...)
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Even A Stopped (Analog) Clock...
... is right twice a day, the saying used to go, back when analog clocks were common. According to the GOP, but not to 67% of Americans surveyed, Obama, in that speech, was worse than that stopped clock. He's never right. GOPers will never support anything he proposes, even if that thing is identical to an earlier GOP proposal. Obama can't even appoint a Re-effing-publican to his cabinet without Tea-tard Senator Ted Cruz (R‑Embarrassment) harassing him. That ought to tell everyone what it is they are really opposing (*cough* Black Democratic president *cough*).
Back to the SOTU... I have no love for Obama. I have policy issues piled high. I do not care for the very idea of bipartisanship: as the GOP has proved, strong minority party powers lead to a fracturing of majority ability to govern. And I don't, myself, like all the Re-effing-publicans Obama has appointed. But I have to admit it... the man certainly can speak. If inspiration were the sole task of a president... if moderate-to-liberal-sounding speeches were a substitute for moderate-to-liberal governance... Obama would be a great president. Unfortunately, now we have to live through the (probably vain, possibly deliberately vain) attempts to put any of his great-sounding policies in place.
(I'm getting to be as crotchety an old man as John McCain, and that's embarrassing. At least I'm less likely than he to put my foot in it, specifically, half as likely...)
(I'm getting to be as crotchety an old man as John McCain, and that's embarrassing. At least I'm less likely than he to put my foot in it, specifically, half as likely...)
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
WaPo Retraction: Story, Like Sarah Herself, Was Made Up
TPM:
The Washington Post on Tuesday issued a correction to a piece that incorrectly claimed Sarah Palin was joining the pan-arab news network Al Jazeera. In the piece, published Tuesday morning, Suzi Parker quoted The Daily Currant, a satirical news site, on Palin's move:The Daily Currant is, of course, a satire site.
“As you all know, I’m not a big fan of newspapers, journalists, news anchors and the liberal media in general,” Palin told the Web site The Daily Currant. “But I met with the folks at Al-Jazeera and they told me they reach millions of devoutly religious people who don’t watch CBS or CNN. That tells me they don’t have a liberal bias.”
Casting The First Stone Stump
The prosthetist came by last evening, pronounced my stump suitable and made a plaster cast from which the socket of my eventual prosthesis will be made. Although the first "draft" of the prosthesis will be crafted this week, and I will "stand" on it (only for test purposes) next week, it may still be months before I am walking regularly on it. Meanwhile, with the obstacles Our House presents, getting out of the house will be an ongoing problem. Stella provides steadfast support, but a person working full-time can only do so much; friend and neighbor George is assisting today in an errand that simply cannot be put off.
Starting a week from today, I have rehab twice a week (soon to expand to three times) at TIRR (The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research... the "T" originally stood for Texas). Insurance pays for most of the rehab, but cab fare being what it is, I could surely use a regular ride to TIRR Kirby Glen that doesn't cost an... oh, never mind; ellroon beat me to that joke. Yes, Houston MetroLift is theoretically a possibility; reality remains to be seen.
Starting a week from today, I have rehab twice a week (soon to expand to three times) at TIRR (The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research... the "T" originally stood for Texas). Insurance pays for most of the rehab, but cab fare being what it is, I could surely use a regular ride to TIRR Kirby Glen that doesn't cost an... oh, never mind; ellroon beat me to that joke. Yes, Houston MetroLift is theoretically a possibility; reality remains to be seen.
Monday, February 11, 2013
National Weather Service's Greatest Deficiency Is...
... computing power? You're kidding me, right? According to Cliff Mass (via Prof. Matt Strassler), the answer is NO, I'm not kidding you: the funding, distribution and actual use of available current computing technology to weather-related real-world problems combine to make America's weather service foremost second considerably less than the most desirable in the world.
Think this is not a political issue? Guess again, or read Mass's post. Here's one of his conclusions:
And that's not the half of it... and yes, much of it is controversial. If you're curious about weather, or were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, or are reading this after your power returned after the current superstorm in the Northeast, you'll want to read Mass's post. I'm not enough of a weather geek to offer analysis or assessment, but clearly the problem is real, and it is upon us right now.
Think this is not a political issue? Guess again, or read Mass's post. Here's one of his conclusions:
For the price of a single warplane we could have greatly improved weather prediction that would save lives and property.
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| Hurricane Sandy |
UPDATE: sure enough, as Mass points out, the US GFS model blew it again, on the Northeast superstorm, predicting only "a minor trough with little weather." Clearly this will not do. Be sure to scroll down to the chart, "Most Powerful Weather Forecast Computer by Country" ... the US ranks seventh.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Poll: GOP Link To NRA Could Cost Party In 2014 Elections
Evan McMorris-Santoro of TPM cites a survey released by Women Donors Network, "a self-described progressive 'community of women philanthropists,' " as showing that "a subset of women voters who usually don’t vote in midterm elections are more likely to vote in 2014 on the issue of gun violence." McMorris-Santoro points to a similar observation by moderate Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH) ("moderate" is relative, of course, within the GOP) that the GOP's decision to maintain a close association with the NRA could cost the party dearly in the 2014 elections.
Let's face it. Americans luvs them some guns, but they don't like mass murders, and we seem to be seeing a lot of those recently. And ready access to high-capacity firearms and clips makes mass murder easy; no two ways about it. The notion that "everybody in the (workplace, classroom, etc.) armed assures everybody safe" is pure BS when "everybody" ... actually, even just one body... is packing semi-automatic or automatic weapons with large magazines. The NRA, once the representative of gun safety among ordinary citizens, has become the visionary of classrooms full of armed adolescents and similarly insane notions. The Second Amendment can be preserved without one of our major political parties falling into the clutches of this society of nut-jobs: the GOP just needs to decide whether it wishes to remain one of our major political parties.
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| AK-47, Nat'l Museum of Am. Hist. |
Friday, February 8, 2013
Awlaki 'Kabuki'
Read Kevin Gosztola regarding Jeremy Scahill's remarks on Democracy Now! concerning John Brennan's CIA confirmation hearing and the likely consequences. WASF...
(Suggested term for what Feinstein and Brennan did to al-Awlaki: post-assassination character assassination. Makes you prooouuuddd... to be an 'merican... [/irony])
(Suggested term for what Feinstein and Brennan did to al-Awlaki: post-assassination character assassination. Makes you prooouuuddd... to be an 'merican... [/irony])
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Now It's Michigan GOP With Transvaginal Ultrasound Bill
UPDATE 2/8: Michigan Republicans back down.
Sahil Kapur of TPM:
Follow the link... TPM's picture of the instrument shows its size better, but not its usage. If nonmedical use of this implement does not effectively constitute rape, I do not know what does.
This is an unmitigated attempt to punish women for obtaining a legal abortion. Every legislator who votes for this bill (all are Republican, of course) should, if female, be required to undergo the procedure herself. If male, the same implement should be applied to the legislator in another orifice. AND LEFT THERE.
ADDENDUM: Via RH Reality Check, the analogous bill in the Tennessee legislature would require a women who refuses to look at her ultrasound to hear a detailed description of it by the clinician (no doubt containing state-prescribed words). Who knew free speech could be violated not by prevention of speech but by its prescription!
You know, with a little help from Planned Parenthood or a similar org, childbirth and childrearing can be joyful experiences, with risks greatly reduced through good medical practices. Abortion, when appropriate (and sometimes it is), can be made much safer for the woman who must undergo it. There is no need whatsoever to inflict deliberate physical or emotional trauma on a woman seeking such care. But some (mostly conservative male) state legislators apparently literally or figuratively "get off" on the pain and/or emotional suffering that can be inflicted on a woman in a medical context. Those men, not the women afflicted, are the moral reprobates.
Sahil Kapur of TPM:
Michigan Republicans have introduced a bill requiring all women to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound before obtaining an abortion, a move that rekindles last year’s firestorm when other GOP-led states were considering similar measures.
The legislation introduced Tuesday in the state House ensures the “performance of a diagnostic ultrasound examination of the fetus at least two hours before an abortion is performed” and requires her to sign a consent form prior to the abortion. ...
Katie Carey, a spokeswoman for Michigan’s House Democratic Leader Tim Greimel, categorically said the bill would mandate transvaginal ultrasounds for women before an abortion.
“This is an unnecessary and unwarranted intrusion into the health decisions of women,” Greimel told TPM in a statement. ...
This is NOT an electric toothbrush!
The bill requires the use of ultrasound equipment “providing the most visibly clear image of the gross anatomical development of the fetus and the most audible fetal heartbeat.” As a practical matter, that requires transvaginal ultrasounds, said Donna Crane, the policy director of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
“It does lay bare that the real motive is to make abortion providers continue to acquire more and more and more equipment before they’re even eligible to perform an abortion,” Crane told TPM. “They’re trying to make it harder for doctors to do their jobs.”
...
(All images added. - SB)
Follow the link... TPM's picture of the instrument shows its size better, but not its usage. If nonmedical use of this implement does not effectively constitute rape, I do not know what does.
This is an unmitigated attempt to punish women for obtaining a legal abortion. Every legislator who votes for this bill (all are Republican, of course) should, if female, be required to undergo the procedure herself. If male, the same implement should be applied to the legislator in another orifice. AND LEFT THERE.
ADDENDUM: Via RH Reality Check, the analogous bill in the Tennessee legislature would require a women who refuses to look at her ultrasound to hear a detailed description of it by the clinician (no doubt containing state-prescribed words). Who knew free speech could be violated not by prevention of speech but by its prescription!
You know, with a little help from Planned Parenthood or a similar org, childbirth and childrearing can be joyful experiences, with risks greatly reduced through good medical practices. Abortion, when appropriate (and sometimes it is), can be made much safer for the woman who must undergo it. There is no need whatsoever to inflict deliberate physical or emotional trauma on a woman seeking such care. But some (mostly conservative male) state legislators apparently literally or figuratively "get off" on the pain and/or emotional suffering that can be inflicted on a woman in a medical context. Those men, not the women afflicted, are the moral reprobates.
How To Rein In A President Who Kills Americans
- Public disclosure,
- Mandatory (presidential) consultation (with Congress),
- Special courts (which evaluate and approve or disapprove targeted killings),
- Lawsuits after-the-fact (allowing current courts to review the legality of targeted killings after-the-fact, circumventing the "state secrets" rebuttal),
- An outright ban (of targeted killings of American citizens).
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Amy Goodman Interviews Dan Ellsberg On NDAA Unconstitutionality
Addendum: from Ellsberg's day (Nixon's presidency) to the present under Obama, presidents have more and more frequently attempted to squelch journalists, not merely by imprisonment but by death threats (see Bradley Manning). If we would restore something of the First Amendment freedoms our nation's founders listed, we must put an end to these presidential practices: the chief executive must not have sole power to imprison or execute Americans, particularly whistleblowers.
Going Post-Postal
NYT:
However that plays out,
Ah. At last, an issue that is truly nonpartisan. Well, not quite; Democrats' sympathy (perhaps due to postal union support) seems greater, while the House, declining even to act on its own postal funding bill (which would have allowed the USPS to close on Saturdays), seems uninterested.WASHINGTON — Faced with billions of dollars in losses, the Postal Service announced on Wednesday that it would seek to stop Saturday delivery of letters, a sweeping change in mail delivery that immediately drew criticism from postal unions, some businesses and lawmakers.
The post office said a five-day mail delivery schedule would begin in August and shave about $2 billion a year from its losses, which were $15.9 billion last year. The Postal Service would continue to deliver packages six days a week, and post offices would still be open on Saturdays. ...
The move raised immediate legal questions on Capitol Hill, where some lawmakers claimed that the Postal Service could not change its delivery schedules without Congressional approval. The post office has made earlier attempts to change the law, only to meet with objections or delays in Congress. ...
Whether it will succeed is difficult to predict. ...
...
However that plays out,
- The Post Office exists by constitutional mandate;
- The USPS has competition never dreamed of in colonial days;
- Some of that competition is electronic, also never dreamed of.
Having The Wrong Discussion
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
CBO (very quietly): Austerity Has Harmed Economy
From the we-could-have-told-you-this-would-happen department, via Brian Beutler of TPM:
In other words, the Rethugs are winning and America's economy is being sent straight to hell by austerity measures never really intended to benefit the real economy... except for the very rich.
Aside: I'd write more, but I have a lot else on my mind as I enter the real physical therapy period before my prosthesis is complete, which precedes a probably even more intense period of rehab after I receive the prosthesis in about a month. If I post even less than before, please don't give up on me. (Oh, and the big bills are starting to arrive... just remember, "we have the greatest health care system in the world... some conditions may apply... mumble mumble you pay out the wazoo... you are screwed... U!S!A! U!S!A! ..." [/snark])
Here’s the buried lede from the Congressional Budget Office, which on Tuesday released its Budget and Economic Outlook for the coming decade: D.C.’s deficit obsession has been quite effective at cutting deficits at the expense of the still-struggling economy.
“[E]conomic activity will expand slowly this year, with real GDP growing by just 1.4 percent,” according to CBO’s projections. “That slow growth reflects a combination of ongoing improvement in underlying economic factors and fiscal tightening that has already begun or is scheduled to occur-including the expiration of a 2 percentage-point cut in the Social Security payroll tax, an increase in tax rates on income above certain thresholds, and scheduled automatic reductions in federal spending. That subdued economic growth will limit businesses’ need to hire additional workers, thereby causing the unemployment rate to stay near 8 percent this year, CBO projects.”
...
In other words, the Rethugs are winning and America's economy is being sent straight to hell by austerity measures never really intended to benefit the real economy... except for the very rich.
Aside: I'd write more, but I have a lot else on my mind as I enter the real physical therapy period before my prosthesis is complete, which precedes a probably even more intense period of rehab after I receive the prosthesis in about a month. If I post even less than before, please don't give up on me. (Oh, and the big bills are starting to arrive... just remember, "we have the greatest health care system in the world... some conditions may apply... mumble mumble you pay out the wazoo... you are screwed... U!S!A! U!S!A! ..." [/snark])
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Robert Reich: Entitlement Reform Is A Hoax
That's right. Watch him here (YouTube) as he explains why and how this is so. What folly we seem prepared to pursue!
Friday, February 1, 2013
I Am The American Economy's New Enemy
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| Krugman holds welfare queen |
Meanwhile, I await in vain a government check in my mail, and it just keeps not coming...
FTR, I will in fact apply for Social Security when I am eligible. I'm probably not eligible for Social Security Disability, but if it comes my way, I won't turn down what the radical right sees as undeserved charity, either, because during my working years, I worked my fucking ass off and paid payroll taxes and other taxes to support all of those programs. I don't deserve it? Fuck that shit!
But at this point I have accepted no government money just for still being alive (as the nutjobs see it). The wingnuts can just cross-thread themselves. I'm happy to help them if they're incompetent to do it alone.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Harder To Dispute: Sprout-Eaters Have Less Risk Of Dying Of Heart Disease
Reuters:
Some conditions apply; read the article. Your mileage may vary. So may mine, but I'm "dancin' with them as brung me," as the late great Darrell Royal (probably not himself a vegetarian, though he lived to age 88) said. My not particularly severe lacto-ovo-veggie diet can't possibly be worse for me than a typical carnivorous American's diet today. I do not proselytize at all, but this is how I eat and how I intend to continue eating.
Afterthought: this makes good evolutionary sense: it's a lot easier to hunt and catch vegetables, and you don't even need a firearm to harvest them.
Feb 1 (Reuters) - In yet more evidence that avoiding meat is good for the health, a UK study has found that vegetarians are one-third less likely to be hospitalized or die from heart disease than meat and fish eaters.
...
"We're able to be slightly more certain that it is something that's in the vegetarian diet that's causing vegetarians to have a lower risk of heart disease," said Francesca Crowe, who led the new study at the University of Oxford.
...
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| This is on our fridge door |
Afterthought: this makes good evolutionary sense: it's a lot easier to hunt and catch vegetables, and you don't even need a firearm to harvest them.
Monday, January 28, 2013
I Cannot...
... do this today. I'll be back when posting doesn't feel like banging my head through walls... maybe in a few days.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Higgledy Piggledy, Physical Therapy...
It's a promising beginning for a double dactyl, but it will have to wait, because I have too much, um, physical therapy on my plate at the moment.
I haven't forgotten the blogosphere or this blog, but when even the simplest household acts require twice the time and four times the energy, it's a bit overwhelming. E.g., imagine going to the bathroom, on a walker, on only one leg.
Or changing clothes. Or rinsing a dish in the kitchen sink while sitting in a wheelchair. AND having assignments of exercises, some supervised by your P.T., some using fancy equipment but many just as difficult using cut-out sections of colorful balloons, either gripped in your hands or tied in knots around your leg(s) and the chair you're sitting in. Or lifting weights that seem tiny when you read the numbers on them, but not so small on the 10th, 15th, 20th... repetition of some simple exercise.
Or learning to climb the shallowest step from a brick patio to a wooden deck using a walker... when you lack one foot or one leg.
Or walking around a typical American 3-2-2 house on a walker for every. damned. thing. you. need. to. do in the course of a day.
I'm sure jams knows exactly what I mean; he's been through it. I don't doubt others of you have some first-hand experience as well.
Twice this week I've slept 12 hours in a night. The greatest injustice is that Stella can't do the same herself, and goodness knows most of the housework falls on her, including the chores that once were mine. With luck, they will be mine again at the conclusion of this process. But that's weeks or even months away.
Still, none of us has any real complaint, compared to the many children with disabilities (and their caregivers) who face all these things and more. And my disability, though permanent, can often be remedied to a point of resuming a more-or-less normal life. How many people, including children, have no such prospect? I have no basis for bellyaching.
I suppose the WSJ sees these kids as "lucky duckies" because they receive government benefits including some tax breaks. There's about as much basic human compassion in these members of the 1% as in Republican candidates in the last election. And they wonder why they did so poorly in that election. And I wonder why Democrats cut GOPers any slack at all. I mean, it's not as if the 1% never ends up physically disabled...
If this post has a point, it is that the political IS personal, the more personal for those with greater disabilities, and more personal in the other direction for people with greater advantages.
I know none of the people in these pictures personally. But I share a bond with all of them. We face a challenge which does not confront people who have no major disability. Every day we face such a challenge... sometimes with good grace, sometimes with unrestrained frustration, but it is always there in front of us. Steering a wheelchair through narrow hallways or balancing on a walker as one transitions from a chair or bed or wheelchair to our primary means of mobility... at least for now... or making it up a single stair (even 2" or 3", even just one), we grin and grit teeth and go for it. It is a game we win every time we arrive on our feet (or foot) without crashing, or return to the table with a dish not shattered on the floor, or just plain make it to the bathroom with no accidents. The victories in this life are small but savored unreservedly by every one of us you see in those pics.
Join us in our fortune, good and ill... it's like nothing the WSJ's self-satisfied "lucky duckies" are likely to experience in their lives. We are alive, when we might so easily not have been... and damn, we know it every single moment. Join us!
Or walking around a typical American 3-2-2 house on a walker for every. damned. thing. you. need. to. do in the course of a day.
I'm sure jams knows exactly what I mean; he's been through it. I don't doubt others of you have some first-hand experience as well.
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| For an amputee, balance is the key |
If this post has a point, it is that the political IS personal, the more personal for those with greater disabilities, and more personal in the other direction for people with greater advantages.
I know none of the people in these pictures personally. But I share a bond with all of them. We face a challenge which does not confront people who have no major disability. Every day we face such a challenge... sometimes with good grace, sometimes with unrestrained frustration, but it is always there in front of us. Steering a wheelchair through narrow hallways or balancing on a walker as one transitions from a chair or bed or wheelchair to our primary means of mobility... at least for now... or making it up a single stair (even 2" or 3", even just one), we grin and grit teeth and go for it. It is a game we win every time we arrive on our feet (or foot) without crashing, or return to the table with a dish not shattered on the floor, or just plain make it to the bathroom with no accidents. The victories in this life are small but savored unreservedly by every one of us you see in those pics.
Join us in our fortune, good and ill... it's like nothing the WSJ's self-satisfied "lucky duckies" are likely to experience in their lives. We are alive, when we might so easily not have been... and damn, we know it every single moment. Join us!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
From EPOP To IPOP
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| Mine won't look like this |
This morning I met with that team. After evaluation, they upgraded the recommendation to "IPOP" ... immediate post-op prosthesis, i.e., they are beginning the process (both on my body and in the shop) right away, and I should have a shrinking of the stump into an appropriate cone shape and a first attempt at a prosthesis within weeks, not months. I am dumbfounded!
This does not mean I will be running races immediately. It is usual to receive several successive prostheses which fit better on each try, and I must be trained extensively in use of the prosthesis, in my home, with a walker. But I never expected to be this far along so early in the process. I am thrilled, and a bit frightened. But I accept the good results, not as a right, nor as a God-given boon, but as a stroke of extraordinary fortune... and exceptional luck in choosing hospitals, clinics, surgeons and therapists, and of course literally hours of help every day from the lovely Stella. My primary care provider of many years deserves an "attaboy" as well; he steered me to the right institutions and persons along the way, and told me "get thee to a hospital" at just the proper time.
It's not all over, of course. There's much work to do, by me and by my doctors. But with luck, I should be walking... yes, walking on two legs, one natural, one prosthetic... sometime this very spring. "Walking with a step in the spring," I suppose I could say... and oops, I guess I did say that...
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
A Belated MLK, Jr. Day Acknowledgement
I didn't mean to allow the day to pass without some mention of what Martin Luther King, Jr. and his followers meant to our society and to the world, but I've faced a few obstacles lately...
King? Some liken him to Mohandas Gandhi, and I won't deny the similarities, but King brought an American perspective to an age-old battle. Someone remarked (who? sorry; can't remember) that King's speeches were so numerous and effective that the American media confines its attention today to his "safe" speeches, to topics scarcely controversial, and avoids those that confront the evils of racism head-on. And who among his followers can ever forget "Beyond Vietnam: a Time to Break Silence," and who in today's mainstream media deliberately presents this centerpiece of King's antiwar stance, delivered in the turmoil of 1967?
In short, our society has not wholly absorbed the full impact and meaning of Dr. King's work, and may not yet do so for several more generations. A nation born with a dual classification of human beings... slaves and slaveholders... is guaranteed trouble for its life as a nation. Dr. King offered hope, but not even he could offer solutions to race/class behaviors evoking that much hate.
We must take up the battle as best we can, and not expect it to be won in our own individual lifetimes. A dream? that we indeed have. But what we may actually expect does not include full racial equality any time soon. All we can do is push onward... and push back against the racism newly resurgent in the era of the first Black American president, no matter what we may think of the latter's presidential career.
Keep the faith!
King? Some liken him to Mohandas Gandhi, and I won't deny the similarities, but King brought an American perspective to an age-old battle. Someone remarked (who? sorry; can't remember) that King's speeches were so numerous and effective that the American media confines its attention today to his "safe" speeches, to topics scarcely controversial, and avoids those that confront the evils of racism head-on. And who among his followers can ever forget "Beyond Vietnam: a Time to Break Silence," and who in today's mainstream media deliberately presents this centerpiece of King's antiwar stance, delivered in the turmoil of 1967?In short, our society has not wholly absorbed the full impact and meaning of Dr. King's work, and may not yet do so for several more generations. A nation born with a dual classification of human beings... slaves and slaveholders... is guaranteed trouble for its life as a nation. Dr. King offered hope, but not even he could offer solutions to race/class behaviors evoking that much hate.
We must take up the battle as best we can, and not expect it to be won in our own individual lifetimes. A dream? that we indeed have. But what we may actually expect does not include full racial equality any time soon. All we can do is push onward... and push back against the racism newly resurgent in the era of the first Black American president, no matter what we may think of the latter's presidential career.
Keep the faith!
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Free 'States', Slave Patrols And The Second Amendment
Thom Hartmann, at Truthout, writes "The Second Amendment was Ratified to Preserve Slavery," and the evidence he presents appears to validate that statement. The amendment's use of "free State" instead of "free Country" (our Founders knew the difference) was inserted to obtain the vote of Virginia, a slave state, and to preserve Virginia's slave patrol, the militia of which the amendment speaks. Hartmann reminds us in that context that "[f]ounders Patrick Henry, George Mason, and James Madison were totally clear on that... and we all should be too." Read the rest of his documentation: it appears very likely to me that "free State[s]" rather than a "free Country" are what the 2nd Amendment is really about, and that that "well-regulated Militia" referred to what was otherwise known as a "slave patrol." In those terms, it is not as noble an aim as it might seem under another interpretation.
If the 2nd Amendment was inserted, not as a device to defend the nation, but rather as a means to uphold slavery in the slave states, then that amendment should have been abolished, or at least reinterpreted, when the 13th and 14th Amendments were ratified. Somehow that never happened, but the clear intent of those two amendments is the abolition of slavery in America... so it must happen. It is time to remove the ambiguity and interpret the 2nd Amendment properly as an amendment supporting slavery... an amendment invalidated by the 13th and 14th Amendments.
This is going to put a few people's drawers in a knot...
(H/T Michael Moore. Article linked above is offsite, not on MichaelMoore.com.)
AFTERTHOUGHT: I find it interesting that so many of the commenters on the Hartmann thread seem unwilling to talk about guns, gun rights and slavery at all. Many of them are seeking a particular outcome, as have many Americans in general for over a century and a half. Antonin Scalia notwithstanding, we have a question of constitutional intent here, not a matter to be resolved by parsing constitutional text (at least not in today's English), and the question, to my thinking, must be resolved based on whether the 2nd Amendment is compatible with the institution of slavery, which was abolished in the 13th and 14th Amendments. I'm not saying it's simple, but I am saying it is an issue of gun rights in the context of the abolition of slavery... and that if Hartmann is right, the 2nd Amendment is in peril and has been so since ratification of the 13th and 14th Amendments. YMMV.
If the 2nd Amendment was inserted, not as a device to defend the nation, but rather as a means to uphold slavery in the slave states, then that amendment should have been abolished, or at least reinterpreted, when the 13th and 14th Amendments were ratified. Somehow that never happened, but the clear intent of those two amendments is the abolition of slavery in America... so it must happen. It is time to remove the ambiguity and interpret the 2nd Amendment properly as an amendment supporting slavery... an amendment invalidated by the 13th and 14th Amendments.
This is going to put a few people's drawers in a knot...
(H/T Michael Moore. Article linked above is offsite, not on MichaelMoore.com.)
AFTERTHOUGHT: I find it interesting that so many of the commenters on the Hartmann thread seem unwilling to talk about guns, gun rights and slavery at all. Many of them are seeking a particular outcome, as have many Americans in general for over a century and a half. Antonin Scalia notwithstanding, we have a question of constitutional intent here, not a matter to be resolved by parsing constitutional text (at least not in today's English), and the question, to my thinking, must be resolved based on whether the 2nd Amendment is compatible with the institution of slavery, which was abolished in the 13th and 14th Amendments. I'm not saying it's simple, but I am saying it is an issue of gun rights in the context of the abolition of slavery... and that if Hartmann is right, the 2nd Amendment is in peril and has been so since ratification of the 13th and 14th Amendments. YMMV.
NRA: Any Lie Will Do, If It Serves A Political Purpose
Most sane people would assume that President Obama's daughters' school, Sidwell Friends School, does not have armed guards in its employ. Sidwell, affiliated with the Religious Society of Friends (i.e., Quakers), is about as committed a nonviolent institution as exists anywhere in the United States. And they actively deny that their school guards are packing... at all.
Yet the N.R.A. (forget about my publishing a link; find it yourself), in a TV ad, called the president an "elitist hypocrite" for sending his daughters to a school that has armed guards while opposing such guards at other schools.
So... what gives? what's really going on?
Simple, really... the N.R.A., in its ad, is a bunch of goddamned outright liars.
Yes, apparently it is that simple. Believe Quakers, or believe self-serving liars? I know who I believe.
And their Middle School just took its second First Place debate trophy in the DC Urban Debate League. I'm not sure it's wise for anyone to face down young people packin' words that big...
Yet the N.R.A. (forget about my publishing a link; find it yourself), in a TV ad, called the president an "elitist hypocrite" for sending his daughters to a school that has armed guards while opposing such guards at other schools.
So... what gives? what's really going on?
Simple, really... the N.R.A., in its ad, is a bunch of goddamned outright liars.
Yes, apparently it is that simple. Believe Quakers, or believe self-serving liars? I know who I believe.
And their Middle School just took its second First Place debate trophy in the DC Urban Debate League. I'm not sure it's wise for anyone to face down young people packin' words that big...
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Guns In The Country; Guns In The Town
Late 18th-century artist Thomas Rowlandson published two etched aquatints titled Four o'Clock in the Country (date 1788) and Four O'Clock in [the] Town (date unspecified). Each etching is a caricature of a gentleman being undressed (town, preparing for bed) or dressed (country, preparing for the hunt) by his maidservants (or perhaps his wife) at 4 A.M., a deliberate mockery of the difference of the two lifestyles. The point was clear even more than two centuries ago: town and country people lead dramatically different lives.
And so they still do. Josh Marshall, in "Speaking for my Tribe," couches the difference in his descriptions of the difference in reactions of today's Americans, country-dwellers and city-dwellers (Marshall is the latter), in their reactions to the habit of carrying firearms. His point is that, to people in the country, carrying weapons as protected by the Second Amendment, is normal and (apparently) unthreatening, while to city-dwellers like Marshall and me, carrying a gun (often shortened to "carrying") is often perceived as an open threat to others. I tend to believe this distinction will never change. Country people need guns, arguably for hunting, eliminating dangerous critters, feeding the family, etc. City people arguably have every right to fear guns because of their hostile and often criminal use in large cities. If you expect to resolve this dispute, forget it; it's here to stay.
The Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of a personal right to bear arms, "personal" as opposed to a right that exists only in the context of forming a militia to protect the citizenry. Many of us who live in inner cities don't feel the love. Most of us don't own guns (I don't) and would as soon live without them, at least in the city. Virtually everyone in the city knows some family that has lost a member to gun-inflicted crime. By analogy, many country folk frequently hunt for the food on their table. Both sides have good reasons for their feelings toward firearms. I can't say country-dwellers are wrong, only that they are advocating for the lifestyle they necessarily lead. And I'm certainly not about to say city-dwellers are wrong; too many of us are murdered by blatant criminal use of firearms.
What to do? There are no easy answers. Read Marshall's well-argued article. I can only hope you can agree that there really are two sides to this one... and that neither side is about to be argued out of his/her position. Not I, at least... I am happy for you to own and carry a gun in Livingston, TX, but if you're packin' in Houston, which you are legally allowed to do, I hope we never meet.
ASIDE: Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he may not enforce any new gun laws. Respect for the law is not necessarily a characteristic of advocates of guns as societal safety measures. YMMV.
And so they still do. Josh Marshall, in "Speaking for my Tribe," couches the difference in his descriptions of the difference in reactions of today's Americans, country-dwellers and city-dwellers (Marshall is the latter), in their reactions to the habit of carrying firearms. His point is that, to people in the country, carrying weapons as protected by the Second Amendment, is normal and (apparently) unthreatening, while to city-dwellers like Marshall and me, carrying a gun (often shortened to "carrying") is often perceived as an open threat to others. I tend to believe this distinction will never change. Country people need guns, arguably for hunting, eliminating dangerous critters, feeding the family, etc. City people arguably have every right to fear guns because of their hostile and often criminal use in large cities. If you expect to resolve this dispute, forget it; it's here to stay.
The Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of a personal right to bear arms, "personal" as opposed to a right that exists only in the context of forming a militia to protect the citizenry. Many of us who live in inner cities don't feel the love. Most of us don't own guns (I don't) and would as soon live without them, at least in the city. Virtually everyone in the city knows some family that has lost a member to gun-inflicted crime. By analogy, many country folk frequently hunt for the food on their table. Both sides have good reasons for their feelings toward firearms. I can't say country-dwellers are wrong, only that they are advocating for the lifestyle they necessarily lead. And I'm certainly not about to say city-dwellers are wrong; too many of us are murdered by blatant criminal use of firearms.
What to do? There are no easy answers. Read Marshall's well-argued article. I can only hope you can agree that there really are two sides to this one... and that neither side is about to be argued out of his/her position. Not I, at least... I am happy for you to own and carry a gun in Livingston, TX, but if you're packin' in Houston, which you are legally allowed to do, I hope we never meet.
ASIDE: Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he may not enforce any new gun laws. Respect for the law is not necessarily a characteristic of advocates of guns as societal safety measures. YMMV.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Back Home To Comfort Food
Tonight I dined on comfort food in the manner of my younger days, having eaten disgustingly healthily while in hospital: in celebration of coming home, I had an Antone's Po' Boy (the falafel sandwich; there are many others available) and Zapp's Potato Chips (the original, available here but originally from Louisiana... perhaps made from an oil well; it's hard to tell).
Antone's Po' Boy started up over a half century ago as a deli and sandwich shop; the original location (since demolished) was in Houston, on Taft north of West Gray, a few blocks from where I grew up. The sandwiches, then as now, were excellent, though when I lived nearby, my family was in no position to treat ourselves to such delights very often.
As for Zapp's chips, good Cajun Ron Zappe died in 2010 at age 67, and as many have remarked, no one needed to ask what he died of. They were, and are, the ultimate fatty salty kettle-cooked potato chip; others are mere imitations.
No, I had not been craving these "indelicacies," but when Stella brought them home to me, I wasted no time polishing them off. Ah, memories of the old neighborhood, not to mention living off the fat of the land...
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| Po' Boy, Carnivore's Version |
As for Zapp's chips, good Cajun Ron Zappe died in 2010 at age 67, and as many have remarked, no one needed to ask what he died of. They were, and are, the ultimate fatty salty kettle-cooked potato chip; others are mere imitations.No, I had not been craving these "indelicacies," but when Stella brought them home to me, I wasted no time polishing them off. Ah, memories of the old neighborhood, not to mention living off the fat of the land...
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
IT (And PT And OT, And Probably ET), Phone Home!
Of all the annoying aspects of homecoming, the utter demise of my home land-line phone has to be the most vexing. The failure must have happened in the first couple of weeks I spent in hospital: the land line itself did not fail, but the failure of the old VTech multi-handset cordless phone's base unit answering system exposed all incoming calls to the AT&T CallNotes® behind it, which I normally do not use... at least not intentionally. It's just part of the package I subscribe to, normally eclipsed by the phone's answering system, which I do use intentionally. Not "do"; "did" ... it's dead, Jim.
The result? Voice messages from ancient history emerged from the void. Forty of them... 40 messages... floated forward from holidays, elections, hurricanes and power failures past, SBCGlobal system failures from hours to weeks long. Four years' worth of incoming voice messages came alive again, and all newer messages were swallowed by the hungry system.
Needless to say, as I had never used CallNotes® in a practical setting, I had long since lost the printed documentation supplied by Ma Bell. The Blue-and-White-Striped Lady is not fond of putting her documentation on the web, so it took considerable browsing... and one phone call to a very testy help representative... to obtain enough info to work out the rest in my fatigued brain. No, none of it was difficult. Yes, all of it was (apparently intentionally) obscured from public view. Oh, and the testy rep gave partially bad info, of which I had to figure out which parts to ignore.
Why did I so desperately need a working answer system or voicemail? because this old house has only one jack for my phone line (which must have been used as a phone for a business at home a few years back... Stella's line enters at several points; mine at only one). When my line survived while my fancy phone failed, there remained only one POTS ("plain old telephone service") phone in my boneyard, which I was forced to hook up to it. The whole setup... the end of the drop and the POTS phone... was about 5-10 minutes by walker from my usual seat in the den, which meant that I missed most phone calls, which meant that I really needed to provide callers an answering system to talk to. Now they will soon have one. It's cumbersome, but it beats nothing.
Step Two was to acquire a replacement fancy phone. Where does one look on the 'net, and what does one look for? Search for any obvious set of terms, e.g., cordless speakerphone without answering, and try to make practical sense of the thousands of phones for sale out there. It isn't easy. In the above query, "with" matches "without" and is enough to drive one crazy, or to Best Buy... if indeed anything could drive a person with my physical failings to a big-box store! Eventually, Amazon came to the rescue... Amazon and about three hours of poring over ads. I ended up ordering a less-than-brand-new design of Panasonic's familiar cordless phone, without an answering system which could interfere with CallNotes®. I can only hope this does the trick.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
COLA And Chained CPI: What Are They? What Impacts Would Obama's Proposed Changes Have?
A New York Times editorial discusses these (at greater length than most editorials) and concludes that President Obama, having not gotten his tax concessions from Republicans as they did not get their lowered cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), still seems "determined to include the COLA cut" in forthcoming negotiations... a policy evidently harmful to seniors currently receiving Social Security benefits and liable to be even more harmful as years go by.
If someone can give me a good answer why any Democrat should advocate striking such an obvious blow against seniors... the population cohort overwhelmingly most supportive of the Democratic Party (and quite possibly directly responsible for Mr. Obama's re-election)... I'd really like to hear it. Otherwise, this "chained CPI" approach is nothing but another failure of Democrats to act like Democrats... and thus another sharp stick in the eyes of senior citizens who have supported that party.
If someone can give me a good answer why any Democrat should advocate striking such an obvious blow against seniors... the population cohort overwhelmingly most supportive of the Democratic Party (and quite possibly directly responsible for Mr. Obama's re-election)... I'd really like to hear it. Otherwise, this "chained CPI" approach is nothing but another failure of Democrats to act like Democrats... and thus another sharp stick in the eyes of senior citizens who have supported that party.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Krugman: Mr. President, Use Your Platinum Ca... Um, Coin
Krugman:
(Krugman provides some details here.)
UPDATE: Treasury says they won't do it. WTF happens now? And who gave an executive department the authority to override a presidential order? Stranger and stranger...
The thing is, the coin option sounds silly, but it clearly obeys the letter of the law. As far as I can tell, none of the other options — other than outright surrender — has the same virtue. Failing to pay debt service would be a breach of contract. Paying contractors, and maybe Social Security recipients, in scrip would violate the law, which says that they should be paid — not given IOUs. Deciding that the president has the right to ignore the debt limit after all would avoid these legal breaches at the expense of another breach.Indeed, what else would be legal and would work? That's why Obama can be counted on NOT to do it... :-(
(Krugman provides some details here.)
UPDATE: Treasury says they won't do it. WTF happens now? And who gave an executive department the authority to override a presidential order? Stranger and stranger...
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Goin' Home... Goin' Home... UPDATED
Actually I AM home (but hum the Dvorak anyway). I'm sitting at the computer... my very own, with my familiar keyboard, mouse and display. The chair is a different matter; my old office chair is slightly too low for me to do a proper launch off of it to mount the walker. But I'll get over things like that in time, and for the moment, any old chair with arms and stable footing will do the trick.
Hospitals have amazing capabilities and their docs and nurses and techs can do equally amazing things, but believe me, there's no place like home... for better and worse. My first real challenge here was taking the walker up a shallow step from the brick patio to the deck, on the way to the back door. Without Stella's assistance, and that of my good friend and neighbor George Batten, I might still be sitting outside trying to figure out a way to get in. The solution to the ascent was simpler than I imagined: I just had to muster more nerve than good sense, and go for it. In part, it's a strength problem, and the additional physical therapy and such that I receive at home should improve my fitness to get from here to there considerably.
I didn't take my camera to the hospital, so I can't show you the wild post-midnight parties of doctors and nurses. I also can't show them to you because as far as I can tell, no such parties ever happened, at least not in the hospital. But allow me my occasional fantasy; otherwise, the hospital is a dull place indeed. My only nonmedical accomplishment was reading most of Leonard Susskind's The Black Hole War (hey, my first link in four weeks!) about Susskind's intellectual battle with Stephen Hawking over questions of information falling into a black hole and various conservation laws (do you like physics? read this book!), and reading all of Mike Lofgren's The Party is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted. (Thanks to the Battens for that one!)
With luck, I'll manage perhaps a post a day. The blog will contribute to my mental health, if not to anyone else's...
UPDATE: for years, I've recited this tongue-twister:
Today, Stella gave me a coming-home present: a doggie chew-toy in the form of a skunk, which I can set... where else... on my stump. Some senses of humor never change!
Hospitals have amazing capabilities and their docs and nurses and techs can do equally amazing things, but believe me, there's no place like home... for better and worse. My first real challenge here was taking the walker up a shallow step from the brick patio to the deck, on the way to the back door. Without Stella's assistance, and that of my good friend and neighbor George Batten, I might still be sitting outside trying to figure out a way to get in. The solution to the ascent was simpler than I imagined: I just had to muster more nerve than good sense, and go for it. In part, it's a strength problem, and the additional physical therapy and such that I receive at home should improve my fitness to get from here to there considerably.
I didn't take my camera to the hospital, so I can't show you the wild post-midnight parties of doctors and nurses. I also can't show them to you because as far as I can tell, no such parties ever happened, at least not in the hospital. But allow me my occasional fantasy; otherwise, the hospital is a dull place indeed. My only nonmedical accomplishment was reading most of Leonard Susskind's The Black Hole War (hey, my first link in four weeks!) about Susskind's intellectual battle with Stephen Hawking over questions of information falling into a black hole and various conservation laws (do you like physics? read this book!), and reading all of Mike Lofgren's The Party is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted. (Thanks to the Battens for that one!)
With luck, I'll manage perhaps a post a day. The blog will contribute to my mental health, if not to anyone else's...
UPDATE: for years, I've recited this tongue-twister:
A skunk sat on a stump. The skunk thunk the stump stunk and the stump thunk the skunk stunk.
Today, Stella gave me a coming-home present: a doggie chew-toy in the form of a skunk, which I can set... where else... on my stump. Some senses of humor never change!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Tomorrow? Tomorrow? There's Always Tomorrow?
The last request for more advanced rehab has finally been turned down more or less absolutely, so I am slated... maybe... to be discharged and sent home Thursday or Friday. Maybe once that happens I'll have something real to say.
The hospital experience here ain't M*A*S*H, but it isn't horrible either, at least most of the time. I'll have a series of brief (but required!) appointments for further training and the design, construction, fitting and testing of a prosthesis. As one who can't shut up even when he probably should, I'll keep you posted on progress.
Wish me luck in placating Stella, who is unhappy with me about something...
The hospital experience here ain't M*A*S*H, but it isn't horrible either, at least most of the time. I'll have a series of brief (but required!) appointments for further training and the design, construction, fitting and testing of a prosthesis. As one who can't shut up even when he probably should, I'll keep you posted on progress.
Wish me luck in placating Stella, who is unhappy with me about something...
Monday, January 7, 2013
No Exit Possible Exit
Physical and occupational therapy are going decently well, though not smashingly. There is some rumor that I may be let out of this joint on Thursday, though I wouldn't bet on it yet. Time will tell.
Stella and my excellent landlord are frantically readying the house for my return. I admit I am scared of applying all these newly learned techniques... walking, peeing, climbing one step, all on a walker... in a real-world setting. At the same time, I miss the kitties terribly, I miss the sight of the tall trees in the back yard, and I miss my own computer, with its not-Windows operating system and vastly more comfortable keyboard. I shall be very glad indeed to get home, Thursday or a week later. Keep your fingers crossed...
Stella and my excellent landlord are frantically readying the house for my return. I admit I am scared of applying all these newly learned techniques... walking, peeing, climbing one step, all on a walker... in a real-world setting. At the same time, I miss the kitties terribly, I miss the sight of the tall trees in the back yard, and I miss my own computer, with its not-Windows operating system and vastly more comfortable keyboard. I shall be very glad indeed to get home, Thursday or a week later. Keep your fingers crossed...
Saturday, January 5, 2013
While I'm In Hospital...
... don't bother posting YouTubes or any other active content in comments. Hospital network will censor them and I can't see them. Pictures of beans are fine; they know how to count those...
The diff between hospital and jail is that most of the time, in jail, your sentence is of a predetermined length. Not here in hospital, though; I could be here forever. :-(
The diff between hospital and jail is that most of the time, in jail, your sentence is of a predetermined length. Not here in hospital, though; I could be here forever. :-(
Friday, January 4, 2013
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
The (Bleep!)ing Republican Party
The "great" Dick Cheney still makes his influence felt as John Boehner reportedly tells Harry Reid to "go (bleep!) yourself." Two weeks I've spent in hospital, and not a thing has changed out there...
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
I Found It!
The computer in the activity room, that is. When I'm not exhausted from physical therapy etc., I'll come back (if allowed) and write a real blog post. For now, I need more wheelchair roaming for my physical and mental wellbeing. See you soon, I hope. (Stella says hello.)
- The One-Legged Wonder
- The One-Legged Wonder
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