Does Anything

in this excerpt from an article on smoking from Wikipedia jump out at you?

"When James I of England, a staunch anti-smoker and the author of a A Counterblaste to Tobacco, tried to curb the new trend by enforcing a whopping 4000% tax increase on tobacco in 1604, it proved a failure, as London had some 7,000 tobacco sellers by the early 17th century. Later, scrupulous rulers would realise the futility of smoking bans and instead turned tobacco trade and cultivation into lucrative government monopolies. renee is not a girl she is a guy and likes to smoke the reefer[13]"

And later in the same article.

"It makes a man sober that was drunke. It refreshes a weary man, and yet makes a man hungry. Being taken when they goe to bed, it makes one sleepe soundly, and yet being taken when a man is sleepie and drowsie, it will, as they say, awake his braine, and quicken his understanding. As for curing of the Pockes, it serves for that use but among the pockie Indian slaves. Here in England it is refined, and will not deigne to cure heere any other then cleanly and gentlemanly diseases. Renee is a guy[1"

The US

will shake her collective head and ask how did this happen? about 2 years from now if Obama is elected president and he ruins this country with his socialistic ideals. If not and everything is more or less good for the country and there never really was a danger of him destroying the country in the first place, it will just go to prove what some people say- It doesn't make any difference who's in office, the government will get bigger and the only difference in individual lives will be the pain caused by increased taxes.

I personally would have to add and the loss of some personal freedoms and rights.

Whether he is elected or not, whether he hurts the country or is the best thing to ever happen to it the medias basic story line will soon be, how did this happen? How did this unknown come from nowhere to be a candidate for president on the most vague platform ever in the history of presidential politics?

The answer of course is the media itself allowed it to happen. If he was white and conservative, he would not have lasted 5 minutes before the press destroyed him by taking him to task on the vagaries of his platform.

Wednesday Digressions

• I worked at a clinic once that the physician was a D.O., a lady came in who was Asian and her last name was Do- she marvelled that a white guy could have the same surname as she and puzzled over that, as much as anything when she came out of his office for nurse education after being told she had tuberculosis.


• Hospice nursing per encounter seems like either the most rewarding or most disappointing nursing possible. So far most cases have been very rewarding.


• Some hospice nurses will not venture into the care of children and their offices know not to offer those assignments. I'll give it my best when offered but, seriously wonder if it will be regretted.


• My overall philosophy is, They will be in the same shape regardless of whether I'm there or not and maybe I can do some good. If I'm not there to try neither of us will know the good I could have done.


• I used the word arcane for the first time in a written sentence the other day.


• Wasn't it strange after Governor Palin was announced as VP candidate for the GOP to hear so many people misusing the word vetted? They reminded me of the character Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride when he said,"I do not think that word means what you think it means." After he and the the giants boss continually says ,"Inconceivable!"
• Now, there's an arcane reference (that may not mean what I think it means).


• I saw a bumper sticker this morning that said, Sarah Palin For Vice President.
• I just told my youngest daughter,"I'm tired of sounding like a broken record- go to bed!" and then immediately realized- today that expression is meaningless.

If I'm Lyin- I'm Dyin

Today I overheard someone say,"I still think the AIDS epidemic is a germ warfare program that got out of control, I don't know if it was ours or someone elses but, that's just my opinion and it's what I've always believed."

Good grief.

Lamest Next Blog Button Foray Ever

Para a Beatriz as aulas começaram ontem mas ainda com um horário reduzido. Hoje sim, tudo está a recomeçar a 100%.
A noite delas foi um pouco atribulada com a preocupação de acordar a horas por isso fiz um pequeno - almoço reforçado com ovos mexidos para que tenham força durante todo o dia.
Espero que elas e todos os meninos que começam as aulas tenham um dia muito alegre e divertido

Wednesday Digressions

• I came home the other day and found a giant bunch of Tiger Lillies on the front porch to be transplanted. I like it when things like that happen.


• When we do a shot clinic the shottees are asked to put their last four on one line of the form. They are told,"Write your last four where it says social security number." You would be surprised at the number of people who put your last four there.


• Some police recruits came in from training. They wore the ugliest, goofiest uniforms imaginable. They were a drab grey for the tops and bottoms and they wore the old time round black police hats with a bill. On their duty belts were plastic radios, pistols and batons and they wore pretend body armor. One said,"Oh these stupid uniforms." as he was trying to get undressed to a point where I could give him his shot. I said," I bet you are a real chick magnet there, slick." "Yeah, you know it." came the reply. When he was leaving I said,"I guess you got to get back to the ice cream truck huh, bud?"


• I'm glad he had a sense of humor or I would expect a good old fashioned tasering after he graduates.


• Life is so much easier for an attractive person.


• I did clinics at schools: Every teacher when they came up to me felt compelled to move their chair (which I had already positioned appropriately to give the shot) around before sitting down. I would then have to say, "Come closer." or "Turn this way please" or "Move more this way please." When all they would have had to do when they came up to my station is sit down. We vaccinated 100s of fire and police personnel and maybe one or two moved their chairs before sitting.


• Wonder why that would be true and why on earth would I notice some arcane detail such as that?

I Like Plays On Words

and the Three Stooges, so here you go.

Book Plug

A Few More Digressions

• I may be wrong but, I think I'm going to live. I don't know what kind of terrible disease it was or how we got it but, the worst may be over. My oldest went to school and I've stopped contemplating calling Dr. Kevorkian.
• Part of it is my advanced age I know but, that stuff was brutal! It's no surprise ancient man would be considered elderly if they made it to forty. If I had been living in a cave eating berries and rotten mammoth meat my mouth breathing children had scavenged I never would have made it through that.
• Waaaah call me a wambulance!
• Comics and women and women comics joke about the difference between men and women when they're sick- goofing on the guys for being wimps. I wonder if there is something to this. Is it harder for a guy biologically somehow all thing being equal? I mean, maybe it's programmed into us all because historically the women and therefore the families that survived had a higher misery tolerance to allow them to care for the children (and maybe sissy men so they could hunt) for survival.
• I was 22 the first time I had a flu, before that point I could never understand what the big deal was. I thought come on, so it's a bad cold- drink some OJ, eat some chicken noodle soup, take some Nyquil, then a nap- problem solved. Right?
• Empathy is the capacity to recognize or understand another's state of mind or emotion. It is often characterized as the ability to "put oneself into another's shoes", or to in some way experience the outlook or emotions of another being within oneself.

Wednesdays Digressions

• Nearly everyone in the house has been sick myself included for the first time in 3-4 years. I threw my back out, hurt my knees and my toes are sore from curling them up while yakking.


• I probably could have left that last sentence off.


• We took the dog we found to the shelter. The officer on duty watched him unload and immediately said,"Hey Fluffy, what are you doing?"- he belonged to her next door neighbor and had jumped out of the truck before we found him. She loaded him right up and took him home.


• I'm happy for him, he had a fantastic set of testicles he would have lost if he entered the shelter system. I noticed them right about the time my daughter said,"Let's name her Princess!"


• I'm not feeling so good again. I'm going to lie down.

Even Stormtoopers Have Feelings

From The Next Blog Button

Name: KOAKIRA
Location: East Timor
"I think positively comfortably everything."

I like KOAKIRAS outlook, it really pumped me up and encouraged me with its simplicity so I wanted to spotlite his blog here with his picture. I saved his pic and then looked for it by scanning my pictures and my documents. I didn't see it so I used search with the file name I know I gave it- after 10 minutes (literally) of allowing the search to continue I gave up and Xd out of it. That's crazy! How could it take so long? I never find anything (well hardly) when I use windows search for files.

I'm bummed again.

Thanks for the effort KOAKIRA, you looked like a nice guy, sorry I can't share you with my legions of faithful readers. Come see me in Decatur, America sometime.

Becoming A Discerning News Consumer

"BURLINGAME, Calif. - Sarah Palin defended her claim that Barack Obama "pals around with terrorists," saying the Democratic presidential nominee's association with a 1960s radical is an issue that is "fair to talk about."


"During her stop in California, Palin was asked about an Associated Press analysis that said her charge about Ayers was unsubstantiated, a point made by other news organizations, and the criticism carried a "racially tinged subtext that McCain may come to regret."-AP article on MSNBC

These two paragraphs reference a comment Palin made at a fund raising rally in California about Obamas association with radical Bill Ayers who in the 1960s was part of a terrorist group called The Weather Undergound which besides having the lamest name of any terrorist group ever bombed government targets in the US. One was responsible for the death of a police officer. It was in Ayers living room Obamas senate bid was contemplated and he was the one who helped Obama get seated on the Annenberg Challenge Foundation Board.

Here's a few questions I asked myself about this article. What's the problem with the statements? Are they factually correct? What are they wanting me to take away from this? In other words, how are they trying to manipulate me?

At two different points in the article that refer to Ayers as a "1960s radical" Problem? He's still an unrepentant murderer whose actions resulted in the death of a police officer in the 60s. He has publicly stated he "didn't do enough back then" and that he was "not sorry for anything he'd done." He was more violently active in the 60s- he's still a radical.

The last sentence in the second paragraph, what's this about a "racially tinged subtext"? So, this guy Ayers, is a black community leader of some type and McCain is trying to make the thought of them together look like he's part of some sort of black supremacy movement or something right? Well, not so much- he's whiter than I am, actually.

The statement is actually so bizarre, it's almost funny and I really appreciate it because they might as well be screaming, "I support Barack Obama and will do anything- including lie to help him win!"

I respect honesty like that.

The writer purposefully placed that sentence at the end of that paragraph to drive (hopefully) home the point that McCain/Palin might be a bigoted ticket. That's all you were supposed to carry away from it. The writer would be pleased if by the next day you said to someone,"That Palin, seems kind of racist, doesn't she?"

Another sentence meant to drive home some doubt and have an easy way out for Obamas guilt by association with Ayers:

" Obama was 8 years old at the time the Weather Underground claimed credit for numerous bombings and was blamed for a pipe bomb that killed a San Francisco policeman"

Here you are meant to think and repeat whenever you speak about the presidential race," Oh come on, Barack was only 8 years old when those bombings occurred!"

Ayers is totally and still verbally unrepentant for everything he did, he's still a radical political figure and helped launch Obamas career.

Obama was not 8 when he met with Ayers in his home to discuss a run for office.

The writer was not interested in laying out facts for you to carry away from the story just doubts.

Well, that and a vote away from McCain.

Nothing Wrong With Me

Yesterday I staggered into the kitchen and poured myself a cup of coffee. After I finished, I promptly put the coffee pot up in the cabinet I had taken my cup from and walked out without giving it another thought.

Fridays Dispatch

• May have to eat these words but," Based on the fact headers on my news browsers are grudgingly giving the nod to Governor Palin over Biden- she must have destroyed him in their debate." It's sad the news is so predictable when a conservative politician is involved.

• At the shot clinic I worked day before yesterday at a school that has a lot of deaf children and teachers a lady sat down and said something to me when my back was turned and I didn't quite get what she said. When she repeated it she signed and enunciated, "I'm a little scared but, I guess you are a pro right?" No one has done that to me before. She had seen my hearing aids when she walked up behind me.


• A teacher sat down that looked like she just got back from selling her body on the ground behind a dumpster in a ghetto. Bad teeth from years of drug abuse and smoking and filthy fingernails and messy, Heidi Fleiss hair. Her top was too tight to roll her sleeve up so she had to unbutton her top and pull it down on one side. She gave me a kind of come hither warm look and leaned her body in toward me while smiling and giving me a wink- give it a rest sister. It made me itch to look at you and I wish I didn't even have to touch you for this shot.


• A maintenance guy who would make three of me and was built like an ultimate fighter nearly fainted."Don't faint, and I'll give you a sucker- you big sissy." I said.


• A woman said,"I'm scared, you know what you're doing right?" "Yeah, they showed me a video on how to do this yesterday that was really long, it was like two hours so I ought to be an expert." "What, a video!" "Well yeah, you didn't think they'd pick me up off the street and throw me in here without training did you?" "And anyway, look at these cool scrubs!" " You better be kidding." "I am, I actually used to run a immunization clinic, you'll probably be my ten thousandth victim." "Victim?" "Huh? Oh, imagine my embarrassment, I meant Patient." After the shot,"Wow, that was the best I didn't even feel it!"

• Speaking of dumpster- a loose association: I did public health for a few years and was out in some pretty rough areas visiting people and I noticed if a group of guys were drinking their 40s and whatever else they were doing had a choice of sitting under some nice trees in a park like setting or leaning up against a dumpster they would take the dumpster every time. I never figured it out but, it was always the case and often dramatically obvious.

From The Gaffe Machine AKA Joe Biden

"The other day when he stopped by Columbia, MO. The Senator was speaking before a large crowd when he decided to give special recognition to State Senator Chuck Graham, a Columbia Democrat.

"Chuck, stand up, let the people see you," Biden shouted.

However, Biden did not realize that Graham is confined to a wheelchair.

"Oh, God love you. What am I talking about? I'll tell you what, you're making everybody else stand up, old pal. I'll tell you what, everybody else stand up for Chuck. Stand up for Chuck!" Biden said. " Post Chronicle

Jihadi Obama

Not because I believe Obama is a terrorist or even a Muslim- I don't know what to believe about him- no one does. We have a vague impression he offers change and hope, that's all it seems even his supporters can offer. I think he could at least switch things up a bit to give us something to think about and call his plan Chope.

Been Meaning To Put This Up For Awhile

Wednesdays Digressions

Should have had his brakes checked!

• Maybe good nicknames for McCain and Palin to play up antagonistically to Obama would be Change and Hope.


• I just burned the end of my tongue with coffee. I hate it when that happens. Also, the other day I was stepping over the dog and he raised his head suddenly and the inside of my ankle hit his head man, that hurt, he has a hard head. That's two things to add to my list of serious personal injuries.


• My spellcheck hi lights Obama but, not McCain


• I start the part time job today doing vaccinations at two different schools, I'm looking forward to it. It wouldn't pay for me to work in the office full time though- they still had a huge stack of Full Throttle energy drinks, I'm still gritting my teeth from the ones I drank when I went in to get supplies Tuesday morning.


• The bailout failed in committee- good. Bad legislation was part of the cause, so bad legislation could not possibly fix the problem. I'll sound like a right wing nut job and say, I find it very discouraging that you have to look long and hard to find an article even hinting the crisis was caused by Democratic legislation that was pushed by Bill Clinton and that Republicans have been calling for at least 4 years for increased oversight but, were shot down by Democrats who were getting rich off the system and were essentially buying votes at our cost since it was their constituents (sub prime borrowers) who were benefiting? from the relaxed qualifying. It's very sad and should be regardless of your party preference.


• I hope I don't sound angry, that's not my intention and not the bulk of my feelings but: Bridges are falling into rivers and we're talking about going back to the moon. People who are responsible for the mortgage crisis got filthy rich and people are afraid to point fingers and the ones who tried to do something about the mess are getting blamed by everyone from "Main Street to Wall Street" and every media outlet in between. Cities have been having massive blackouts and entire regions running out of water in the past year but, we can't drill new oil wells or expand wind power because it might bother someones version of how nature works and we are talking about manned exploration of Mars? It is discouraging. It is saddening.
• I was looking for something relevant to my ramblings here but, came across this and I grinned a little so thought it might be more better.

Bill Ayers Terrorist And Obama Associate Says-

From his blog.