During my adult life I have had many occasions to attend Emergency rooms with family or friends, and I had developed this little hangup that I would look at the ceiling inside the cubicle for a few minutes and say to myself that for many people, this was the last view of anything that they would ever see, and how depressing that was.

During my recent hospital stay, while I was in the prep room awaiting the transport into the OR, I was watching the folks at the long desk in front of me and thought to myself that this view wasn't so bad: the anesthesiologists and the nurse anesthetists, some other docs, residents, nurses, and staff were all talking and the banter was flowing easily - life going on at the workplace, people going about their jobs, hopefully competently, and it was very normal. Parenthetically, I had no fear that I wasn't going to make it thru the anesthesia, but actually felt better about things because people and lives will continue to continue even after each of us disappears, so to speak.

So it is with politics: here we are descending into some peculiar state with the fascinating dichotomy of increased societal 'tolerance' for lifestyles at variance with the "norm" but at the same time there is a hardening by the radicals against the rest of us which is increasing in militancy and anger. We are at a crossroads and the direction taken in the next few years will determine whether this country resembles in any way shape or form the country into which we were born, whatever our age, or whether it will truly become a tyrannical state. One thing is for certain in my opinion: the corporate interests will always be well-represented and their leaders will be protected. That is the legacy which is eternally passed, from the time of the Babylonians forward, unchecked economic expansionism is, was, and always will be, the first order of business no matter who is in charge.

The practice of medicine, dentistry, and podiatry, the only three occupations which allow the cutting of living human tissue, has metamorphosed into a Gordian Knot and will not be unraveled in our lifetimes. The evolution of technology, while saving millions of lives, and having the potential of saving countless billions of lives, is expensive and thus by definition will be limited to those who can afford it, whether by premium payments to the grifting insurance companies, by taxation, or by direct payment from those fortunate few who can do so. There is of course, the lunatic-fringe of docs and dentists, mentioned in other threads today, who are attempting to steal money from patients who are desperate to stay well or get better. This reprehensible behavior is the worst kind of charlatanism, and gives false hope to individuals at best, and steals their resources better utilized for effective treatment or other necessary expenses possibly leading to increased morbidity and mortality at worst.

These are the best of times and these are the worst of times.

By way of explanation, I'm in Penn State Central here in Philly.

"They shouldn'ta fired Joe Paterno. He wasn't the one molesting boys AND you know who's gonna get rich off this? The so-called 'victims' and the lawyers. That's all that's gonna happen here." (this must be coming from the hate radio or whatever...here 1210 AM, a station full of shitbags and gasbags.)

My response...measured silence (count to four: one...two...three...four) and then...

ME: You may or may not recall that I was raised by separated parents and lived solely with my Mom my entire life after age 5 1/2 (I do remark upon this often in my soliloquies to prove certain points - that I was from a single-patent family long before it was in vogue to be from one.). During that time I had to fend off several would-be attempts to 'seduce' me, fortunately none ever succeeded, but I will tell you that if one had, and there was a neighbor, co-worker, or 'friend' who did nothing to help me, I would have returned later in life with the equivalent of a Hillerich and Bradsby Louisville Slugger, OK? These PREDATORS prey upon those whose backgrounds are difficult and compromised and I was one of those kids in those days. (real upset) Anyone who was ever involved would not have gotten away with it, and neither should these creeps. Not for one...goddamned... minute... GOT IT?"

All folks to whom I've spoken like this get real uncomfortable, apologize, and I tell them that there is no necessity to apologize TO ME, but they had best better get their priorities straight or they and this world are in a whole lotta trouble.

And yes, THEY are the ones who expressed the opinions so I am within my rights to defend the proposition that underaged individuals are NOT 'participating' in order to get rich quick. Bastards all the way around.

In the last two months, I have now had two horrifying experiences which have permanently altered my consciousness. The first occurred in the Jefferson Hospital imaging center when the technician stopped what she was doing in order to get a doctor to come speak with me about what she had seen on the ultrasound. Two hospitalizations and one (painless!) surgical procedure later, that issue is now resolved.

The second episode is, in a crazy way, more disturbing over time, since no amount of 'treatment' administered will 'cure' this problem: the thousands of people who feel that there are mitigating circumstances at Penn State which should allow Paterno to 'return' and that there are those with whom I have spoken - otherwise rational, reasonable, thoughtful, sincere, and yes, liberal folk who feel that since no one has been convicted of a crime, then all these dismissals are a travesty to 'Justice'.

Now my response to these people is that we don't know 5% of the real story and that there is much more which may or may not ever come out into the public domain, and these folks are fleeing for their lives. But this is not my point here today.

Due to the evolution of the mechanism of Propaganda here in these United States, we can have not a few, or a few hundred, but thousands upon thousands of people automatically take the side of individuals who themselves have testified that they were aware of behavior which is taboo, anathema, outrageous, grotesque, perverted-to-the-extreme, and 'rationally' defend them without knowing all the circumstances which, NO, not would mitigate the sins, but would make it even worse. Yes, worse. The situation is primed to evolve horribly over the next weeks and months. At one time in my lifetime, there certainly would have been a few or even many who might feel this way for a variety of reasons: that they themselves have committed certain acts in their lifetimes which would not be favorably regarded, that they seek a level of 'Justice for all' which comes at everyone's expense including that of terrorized victims, that they just quite frankly feel that this particular behavior 'just isn't all that bad'. People's sexual mores vary widely, as everyone here knows, "who's to say what's right or wrong" can be taken to the extreme, witness NAMBLA's (former, I hope) existence.

Yesterday I saw, including recall visits, about twenty patients. Yesterday's topic-of-the-day was Penn State of course. Of the twenty 'random' individuals, several voiced reservations about what 'precipitously' happened to all of these administrators. My measured response to them was that in the world of the scandal, people involved often respond to issues about which we have no awareness, and that there is much more going on here. I'm not sure I changed any minds. i know one thing: I'm vaguely depressed and now even more cynical than I was one week ago.

In 1988, Joe Paterno addressed the Republican Convention. My father, then an employee of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as is/was Paterno was incensed. "Sonofabitch can't do that." was what he said. Of course, it is against the rules to be politically active when employed by the government. From that time on, every time I'd see that Penn State lost, I would think, "Good."

They have created a religion of football up there: why else would God have made the sky Blue and White? they're only half-kidding. The grotesque investment of time and energy of the University's students would have been better served in pursuing their own studies, and yes, I get that this stuff is 'important'...but it's not THAT important. Fall Semester at Penn State is geared to one and only one thing: the circus that is Nittany Lions football.

Paterno succeeded in creating an Empire for himself, utilizing his brother George as the shell-company: real estate, broadcast network, products, speaking fees, and all the other forms of income-in-extremis were shunted his way. Years ago, someone asked Paterno why he never considered going Pro. He laughed in the questioner's face. Why would he leave THIS to go somewhere where he'd be accountable?

I am quite gratified that he is leaving with such ignominy. I am astoundingly upset that these were the circumstances for the sakes of the victims and the families and grieve for them all, and this should be a lesson for all those who unfailingly look to sports teams or individuals as 'role models' without any real knowledge of what these people are off-camera. Oh, and one more thing: this scandal actually goes a LOT farther than has been made public, at least so far: there is little doubt that the entire upper echelon of the Commonwealth's government knew about this as well as many members of the Board of Trustees. Take a look at the time line in the indictment, and look up the officials in charge when the acts were reported and look at the past behavior of some of these folks and you'll get the idea.

Shame on them all.

another responsible adult has passed away...I grew up with his reportage from the White House.

And so that whole generation is almost completely gone - whether they be actors or actresses, newscasters, radio personalities, politicians, industrialists, union leaders, print reporters or gossip columnists, scientists, war heroes or pacifists (or both!), notable writers of fiction and of fact, sports personalities, and all the others who were mature individuals in the 1950's. They were the personalities who shaped me for better or worse and inevitably and inexorably, they are dwindling, leaving only my black and white memories of their presence on long-gone television shows where there are no kinescopes or even audio recordings.

One thing which amazes me daily is that despite the existing technology to have preserved many recordings of the eras, so much has been lost forever due to failed technology, budget cuts, or just plain carelessness and foolishness. I have distinct memories of occurrences which were on the radio or TeeVee which I cannot find and have never been referenced to my knowledge. One example is that of Les Crane, the interviewer, who had thousands of hours of remarkable interviews and yet only two kinescopes exist - for you youngsters, he was the first person who hosted an openly gay man on television - look him up on Wiki or wherever. This is just one permanent deletion out of thousands. I wonder if the same thing will happen even today with our 'advanced' technology: my feeling is that yes, there will be loss and even fewer will care about it.

I know that this has been true of every generation since time began, so to speak, but I can only imagine that those individuals who created and maintained archives during the early years of recording technology could not have imagined that we as a civilization would so carelessly discard so much.

I was in an English class at my University and when I exited, there was a great gathering in the center of the academic quadrangle. It seemed that the Nixon Administration had announced that it had mined Haiphong Harbor in North Vietnam and this was considered by the student leaders to be so reprehensible that we should act as a revolutionary body and take over the administration building. So a large group of us went over there and very politely asked the staff to leave, which they did for the most part, and the Administration officials stayed around to talk and even posed for pictures with some of the demonstrators!!

I for one, avoided such 'social' contacts...a month later, charges were brought against many of the students pictured in the photos, with proof of their participation being the pictures themselves. It was a mess...they held 'trials' on campus and a few students were in REAL trouble...the results of which I don't specifically recall, but it wasn't great. They were show trials and punishment was meted out - and for you younger folk, in those days, there was not a prayer that a med school or law school would take you if you were the subject of significant University disciplinary action. Lives were changed that day.

But what I found fascinating about that moment in the center of the quad was that a group of people was moved to action by a particularly egregious (at that time) spark and we acted as a herd and performed actions rather precipitously without thinking of consequences. Now I'm not saying that we did anything wrong, it was just the manner in which we acted was so spontaneous, and the one thing which TPTB know, is that one bad judgement call can cause a movement to gel almost instantaneously with unknown but possibly significant results.

...so I work about three blocks from the encampment and have frequently walked over there to commune a bit. People here are certainly dedicated and in it for the long run. Most Philadelphians who walk past, stop, read the signs, nod/smile a bit and keep moving. The other day part of the group marched to Penn to protest that vile Eric Cantor, coming up Walnut Street and getting a fair amount of attention from the working folk.

Yesterday, some went to bank branches and handed out leaflets in a very peaceable manner. When I went to make my bank deposit, the nice young lady behind the counter said that this whole business was "her first protest" in her lifetime, and that she was kind of indifferent to the actions taken by the protesters - that she didn't expect this methodology of protest. I've known her a while and I replied that the actions which they were taking were within the law, that they were non-violent, that the fact that she was talking to me ABOUT the protests in this fashion was testimony that they were at least moderately successful in getting into the consciousness of the working folk without negative associations AND that they were working-class people as well, albeit ones with political beliefs which moved them to participate EARLY in a movement AND that these efforts were designed specifically to promote understanding and solidarity. I talked a little about my youthful participation in the Civil Rights movement (she was African-American) and the Peace movement when I was older and much more active (and endangered). She listened attentively: all this while I was awaiting Customer Service for a problem with my account. When we finished, the thanked me and said "So I've learned something new today." I could tell that some of the other tellers were listening as well.

Now yesterday, I treated a police officer who is a long-time patient: he and his family are among my few ultra-RWers who preach the gospel according to Rush and he's assigned to the protest during daylight hours. Of course, he spoke sneeringly of the group, but did mention that there had been no trouble with anyone and almost all were respectful of the police and that (amazingly!) there were signs THANKING the police for their efforts. This seems to have made a (very small) dent in his prejudice. He said that when the folks go on a march, that the homeless raid the tents for stuff: I asked him if they shooed the interlopers out, and he said, yeah when they can. Not bad for a storm trooper, actually.

More sometime if anything happens here....

I want to preface my remarks by stating that I am fortunate enough to have outstanding health care coverage because I pay almost two thousand eight hundred dollars monthly. It is outrageous that this is what it costs and that the insurance company to which I remit this shows billions in profits annually and is making this money off the backs of those who cannot afford to pay this and SHOULD not have to do so. I firmly believe that it is every person's right to have the access to the health care which I just experienced and I am not finished yet, although this chapter seems to be coming to a close. Now I am doubly fortunate, and it is equally ridiculous that because I am a member of the medical establishment, I was treated exceptionally well by the staff and doctors during my recent hospital stay and at my extensive (albeit weirdly medieval) testing which I endured prior to my upcoming surgery.

I had phoned my physician and told him that I was having a headache, which I almost never experience, and he said, "Come right over,. I'll take a look at you this afternoon. Don't eat anything, I may want to draw some blood on you, since it's been over a year." I went over, he adjusted my B.P. meds a bit, and drew the blood. The next morning, he called me and said that one of my kidney values was out of whack and I needed to see a nephrologist right away. That afternoon I had an appointment with a terrific doctor who referred me for the scan of kidneys and bladder the next day. Canceling my patients (as a dentist, no one was too upset, if you get my drift) I had the scan and in the middle, the tech stopped, went out and came back with a doc who told me that I had to go to the ER immediately and why. Scared to death, almost literally, I went over, signed in, and weirdly, within a half hour, despite the mob scene there, I was called back, catheterized for the first time in my life (not bad at all - more on this in a different post in the near future), watched carefully for two hours to ensure that I didn't go into a crisis which can occur, and, believe it or not, was visited by the head of the Emergency Department who asked me in all seriousness if I was OK, and did I need anything and that his people would see to it that I was taken care of. I'm thinking to myself, "Jesus H. Christ - everyone around me thought I was a VIP of some sort - you could tell that they were trying to figure out who I was because I was moved to the front of the line even though it was clear that I wasn't having an MI or a stroke or a bleed somewhere. It really was embarrassing -and NO, I did not show up waving that I was a Doctor-of-sorts. I never ever do that, not anywhere. Low-key is my motto.

Two and a half hours later, I got transferred right up to a room in urology and immediately nurses, residents, and an attending physician showed up, were extremely courteous and kind, and did everything necessary, chest films, blood draws, medication continuity interview, etc. My roomie, who was a great guy, had the same thing I did more or less and after about 16 hours, asked me, "Are you someone I should know?" I laughed and said, "Absolutely not. Why do you ask?" He said in all seriousness, "Ive been here for almost three days and not once have I gotten this kind of attention that you've gotten." I answered him by saying that we have different doctors and who knows. But I knew. He was absolutely right: I was in for almost three days myself and had about 4X the number of professional visits from several disciplines, and even though he was diabetic and I'm not, and he was in REAL kidney failure and I was in the very initial stages of that, and my doctor stopped by three times in one day, even though he is a cardiologist and told me that after 30 years of treating me, he never thought I'd be so suddenly infirm, and I must say that the bills which I have received and that were paid by my insurance really did not reflect the professional attention which I received. I've been a clinician for 34 years and I'm going to tell you that there was a marked difference in how I was approached as a patient versus others on the floor, even in terms of attitude of staff walking into and out of rooms; I took numerous walks with my IV pole and catheter bag and wow...I'm not saying that others weren't getting attention, they certainly were, but you could tell who was preferential from a social/insurance standpoint and who wasn't. It was sobering and quite frankly, unnecessary: people are the same and should be treated as equals when they are in life-threatening conditions.

My experience, for what it was, was wonderful, people couldn't have been kinder or more helpful. But anyone who says that we have a single-class medical establishment is on mushrooms or acid. I'm going back in a couple weeks for my procedure and quite frankly, have all the confidence in the world in these people. I fervently wish and hope that someday in America, everyone could be assured of feeling the same way. Unfortunately, it probably will not be in my lifetime.

The Phillies assembled four of the best starting pitchers in baseball, already possessed a lineup of veterans, almost all of whom had post-season experience including a World Championship. At the beginning, middle, and end of the season, they were touted, even by periodicals and sportswriters who tend to hate Philly teams as "the team to beat" due to their sheer talent. In response, the Phillies won 102 games, setting a franchise record, and clinched their division, home field advantage throughout the playoffs, and even (for a change) had World Series home field advantage due to the National League's (unusual) All Star Game victory. The table was set for success.

So, "of course", after the divisional clinching game, all the air seemed to go out of the balloon: the team 'inexplicably' went on an eight-game losing streak, interestingly allowing the Cardinals to achieve the playoffs - this would later come back to haunt them - and generally went into a funk, JUST IN TIME for the playoffs. To give you an idea of how badly they played in the playoffs, the 7 and 8 hitters hit for about .100, and these two fellows were clutch hitters just a few weeks ago, when it seemed that the team wouldn't lose another game. The 'slugger' Ryan Howard went 0 for about 50 after a very good start and had the absolutely most-ironic moment as he grounded out to end the fifth and deciding game, after he ended the season LAST YEAR by watching a third strike fly past him without taking the bat from his shoulder, and then ignominiously, damaged his Achilles tendon and was unable to even WALK to first base as the last putout was made, and the Phillies lost 1-0.

As a 53-year Phillies fan, I know that they deserved to lose. Not to annoy me or the other fans, but that the arrogance of success drowned out the drive and competitive spirit which had been the Hallmarks of the team during the regular season.

And so we have seen this before, haven't we? On January 20, 2009, many of us witnessed something we had been awaiting for our entire lives, and we were so flushed with success, that we just gave up fighting and are, by any measure, hanging on by a thread where it counts. I hate to do this, but I'm going to quote a line from Mel Brooks' film "Spaceballs": "Evil will always win out over Good, because Good is Dumb." We laughed at the Republicans who were on the ropes and sagging and let them stand up as we went to our corner for some lemonade and relaxation and they not only got back in the game, they are poised to possibly destroy the fabric of almost eighty years of Progressive victories, such as they were. Don't get me wrong: I understand where we are as a country and what threatens us from within. But the few crumbs, the bones thrown to the dogs, are no longer a "given". God help us.

I want to take this opportunity to let you all know of something which is subtle for some, but not obvious to many. To backtrack 36 years, when I was a dental student we had a brilliant biochemistry professor who, before starting his lecture one day, informed the class that he was most concerned as a biochemist and a humanist of the indiscriminately long-term use of the birth control pill as it was formulated all those years ago. He showed us some concerns via equations and processes which led him to believe that reproductive cancers and infertility might wind up being a result of years of Pill usage. this had to do with hormone levels and dosage levels and side-effects at the cellular and DNA levels.
He may have been quite prescient.

He also was the gentleman who mentioned to us that it would be critical for us to watch our own health as carefully as we might ideally monitor that of a patient who presents with multiple conditions: that we can't really trust the medical establishment to be thorough enough to diagnose and detect in an early stage, major issues. But that we were fortunate that although we weren't physicians per se, we were well-educated in microbiology, immunology, pathology, and pharmacology sufficiently to read and understand most research and implications thereof.

So I'm going to cut to the chase and say that if you notice ANY change in your urinary habits, or anything at all 'weird' going on, go to your doctor and INSIST upon getting evaluated for the issue. I'm not going to say specifically what I'm going through: you can guess some of it, but there are other ramifications from it being quite possibly a long-standing issue, which were and are potentially bad news, although I have averted the likelihood of catastrophe - meaning the inability to post here on DU of course.

"Denial" is a seriously flawed defense mechanism and you shouldn't ever utilize it medically - it is dangerous. Please, guys, if you have noticed that you have decreased flow, that you're not emptying, that you seem to go a long time without needing to go, if your belly swells for no good reason and it's firm instead of flabby, if your color changes in the bowl, if you have a split-stream: run, do not walk to the doctor and tell him or her that you're concerned. Have them do blood and urine tests and the digital thing (which isn't conclusive about anything, BTW - but it's one more piece of evidence), do a PSA and Creatinine (kidney function) among others, and don't wait if there's something which might be untoward. Follow it through.

I will say this much: benign conditions can often kill you faster than those which are malignant. Don't worry about the results, do the tests. Please. We can't afford to lose any more liberals.

During a scan, the tech found something which could be immediately life-threatening or at best, life-altering 'forever', and I was admitted and taken care of wonderfully over the last few days. In Philadelphia, there are several fine hospitals with first-class departments and I must tell you that not only was everyone wonderful to me, but the quality of care was exceptional and there were two people, one doc in the ER and one nurse on my floor who were remarkably special, but that is not to denigrate anyone else involved: they were all outstanding.

But of course, if this were the entire extent of the post, then it would be considered a vanity-post and i would be widely excoriated for being an 'attention-getter' (to be polite and PC).

I'll preface the following paragraph by saying that I pay in monthly premium rates that which would put a family well-over the poverty line, I'm most fortunate that I can afford it but it is strangling and would be impossible if I weren't self-employed and a professional who grosses enough money to 'cross the finish-line' each month. It's not a premium bill, it's an 'altitude'.

What disturbed me intensely, was the utter sadness and despair in the Emergency Room waiting room and the hallways of the back wherein the treatment is performed. A number of indigent-looking patients were there as well as those of the working-class - the HARD-working class who struggle to survive. The fear in the eyes and body language as they are interviewed by the administrative personnel with regard to their coverage or lack thereof almost eclipses the fear and trembling when they are talking to the triage nurse about their condition. There was much head-shaking and desperation afoot, for although the ER will stabilize the patient, the hospital may or may not offer their best services to those who cannot pay or cannot pay even a 'small' share ('small' being a quite relative term). One did not have to be a clinician to recognize that many of those sitting in that venue were really really sick with multiple disorders and that they were either untreated or poorly treated. It's so very sad and, IMO, unnecessary.

This is what the Republicans want: they want those who can't make it to die: they're believers in Social Darwinism and 'let the chips fall where they may'. The "let him die" incident at the Tea Party "debate" took place while I was in there, and although I had access to computer, I was too upset with the whole story to post. Also, I was too sick to form a long PCInternish rambling essay such as this one. Of course, they would deny this, but they're just lying through their teeth: as usual. and of course, the Irony is that many of these folks vote for the Republicans out of that fear. Instead of the Four Freedoms, they have the Four Fears. It's despicable and disgraceful. Access to health care should be a right of everyone, and it is doable, believe me.

I'll be going back for another procedure in three or four weeks. Doubtless, the world will be even more fraught with horrors at that time, and consideration for these folks will have moved just that much further away from ideal, and optimism, once heralded after the election of 2008, shall have diminished just that much more.

So today, having returned home from seeing an emergency patient and I with a terrible cold (teddible code), I sat down to watch some football (Eagles who I marginally can't stand b/c of Vick the dog-killer) and baseball (Phillies). After all the huge flags and ceremony the games began and then I saw it for the fortieth time, and I don't get it - or rather, I don't know what's become of the 'younger' generation...

So it's a beer ad - and this rather dorky looking guy is on the phone with his (naturally) gorgeous girlfriend, and he tells her that he can't see her b/c he's studying for the "bar exam". So he in fact is in a bar, by himself, and he and the bartender are discussing the coldness of the beer and the labels to that effect and whatnot. At that point, two gorgeous young ladies again ask him if he's in law school, and he says "No" in a really denigrating fashion as though "how dare they even deign to speak with him", and he runs away.

So therefore, I must conclude that a young 'gentleman' would rather drink a piss-thin beer like Coors, by himself, than spend time either with his gf, or TWO bee-yoo-tee-ful young ladies. And believe me, he's no beauty himself. I find it strange that a commercial which is extraordinarily carefully crafted, implies that beer drinking takes precedence over possibly 'hooking up' as they now say, with pretty women who seem interested in one. Further, it is not the first ad of its type: I recall the ad where the guy won't go upstairs to see his wife/gf's new nightgown, or the satin sheets on the bed, but he will run up to get a beer and slide across the satin sheets out the window.

Yes, I know I'm talking about the ad and the beer, and yes I know that I'm not in the target market, but I'll tell you one thing: I was NEVER in the target market that they're promoting their beer towards.

So what do you think? Am I just way behind the times?

This happens quite frequently - more times than I care to think about - because most of the time, the systemic infection is not associated with the concomitant dental abscess. In this case, the association was quite clear. These are tragedies of the first order: most people may not realize that chronic dental abscess causes endocarditis and associated stroke/pulmonary embolism/other ailments. You know, the System is NOT composed of Quincy, M.E.'s ...most folks don't put it together. I have many stories thereof.

No one leaves my office who is unable to afford care with a threatening tooth. I will extract the tooth at no charge if I have to and just live with it...it costs me next to nothing to do it: I can perform the procedure while someone else is getting numb, or rather than drinking a cup of coffee or posting another rambling POS post here at DU. I will give them antibiotics if I have to: this happens three or four times a month and it's OK with me. I don't want anyone's death or severe illness on my consicence: it's bad enough to deal with what I have to deal with already.

Many many years ago, there was written a SF story about the Boston subway system wherein a shuttle line was opened making the system possess infinite connectivity from a mathematical/physical standpoint, and then one of the trains disappeared on the line. People could hear it, but no one could see it and it ran until it reappeared. There was, of course much more to the story: my favorite line is when a physicist says that the train hit a node, and one of the maintenance guys said: We don't leave no nodes lying around on the track...

My point is that we have reached, in a sense, infinite connectivity within the society and are seeing the breakdown thereof much more clearly than we would otherwise and perhaps we have accelerated the process exponentially with all these Intertubes and stuff. Toffler's 'Future Shock' underestimated the rate of change of the rate of change. We are disintegrating at a rapid pace and in the not-too-distant future all we'll have is our keyboards, our streaming Netflix, and our fixed 'elections'. The morans have been empowered to a degree to which they could never have imagined and idiocy reigns: if you don't think so, have you watched network TeeVee lately? It makes the really really stupid shows of the 60's look like Masterpiece Theater. This is what kids watch, this is what they expect, and relatively speaking, very few of us try to give the next generation the sense of history, of political dangers of autocracy, and of true morality - as opposed to the 'theology' which is proffered by these political know-nothings. the is an extraordinarily troubling time.

Lots o' pretty and weird things to look at; Christine "I am not a witch" O'Donnell, Sarah "Miss Alaska second runner-up" Palin, Michele "Corndog" Bachmann, Sharron "Batshit Crazy" Angle...while the real people get all their ducks in a row: winning the House, State Houses and Senates, governorships, school boards, Supreme Court decisions, gerrymandering, and God-knows-what else.

Folks, these people may lose a battle here and there, but they are winning the war. Want to "play nice", show pics of corn dogs going into "hot" babes' mouths, laugh about how stupid Bush is, whether Perry is gay or not, whether Mitt drove his car with dogs on the roof, make up (admittedly) funny definitions of what a Santorum is, laugh at Mitch Daniels' height, and other chortles? Go right ahead...the joke's on us. The Republican Establishment plays for keeps and takes no prisoners. The debate is not between liberal and conservative, the debate is between those who see things as they are and those who think/pretend that this is all a game. In the words of JD Salinger: No game.

Personally, I think we're ultimately screwed, but I for one will continue to fight on...because it is a cause worth fighting for, no matter how (fill in the blank), it happens to be.

I'm just so worn out and depressed...