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hootinholler's Journal
What a bold adventure today! I was Ill all last week, having gone to the Dr with swollen glands, high fever Last Thursday, sent home with a script for anitbiotics. When Monday rolled around I went back to my quack to bitch about my lack of health, not being able to swallow, gagging on a fucking milkshake fer chrissakes. Well, he said "Gee those glands are remarkably swollen", I'm thinking no shit obviousman, what does pointlessboy think?
He gives me a shot of antibiotics and sends me to an ENT guy like it's no big deal, wanted to schedule Tuesday, I fought for that same day, but settled for this morning with a different ENT doc in the practice. Have I mentioned I'm not really good at picking Drs? Anyway I digress...
I got there this morning, and he feels my neck and says, hmmm, sprays some crap down my throat and says swallow I'm numbing it. We talk about how it tastes like spoiled bananas while it kicks in. Then he tells me to hold still and he then feeds a scope through my nose which stings a bit but lets him have a good look down the gullet.
When he pulls the scope out the good Asian Dr is as lilly-white as my Caucasian legs in winter. He says you're going to the ER, NOW. Yes, he shouted. He said drive there now I'm calling ahead.
I got the the hospital and had a cigarette at 9:50 this morning on the way in to the Frederick Memorial Hospital ER. They have me on the patch right now. I have always wondered about the concept of a Memorial Hospital, and the initials are the classic, FMH, rofl, but I digress.
I lasted all of like 12 minutes in the ER as the whirlwind struck. I met all kinds of Drs, Nurses, specialists and probably a janitor or two. I didn't even have to sit on the group W bench and fill out any forms as consent papers which I insisted on reading at least most of them were shoved in my face with the phrase sign here.
Once the signature was obtained, I was taken off the the OR for a large gauge piercing called a tracheotomy because I have epiglottitus that went unrecognized and untreated for a week.
Since, I've been in ICU where I woke up. The staff have been pretty good, well the night shift has been wonderful anyway. I have this new piercing, and will have a stay most of the rest of the week. At least FMH has wifi and my ex and one of my kiddies brought in my 'puter...
I wonder if they make decorative covers for when the tube comes out, shame to squander the opportunity, lol.
-Hoot
Why are you allowing this to continue? Why do people have to sue? I'm sorely disappointed sir. -Holler
What of the effects on the long term economy as middle class wealth is harvested as we die? What is the effect of that money not being passed down? How many educations were not paid for?
Why don't we have a plan to shift the insurance companies into other markets? Personally, I think they should be cashiered, but in the spirit of retraining as jobs are eliminated attitude brought in with outsourcing, I could give that up in a compromise for single payer care.
I believe that Single Payer would be a huge stimulus to the economy. I can't understand why Single Payer isn't the fiscally conservative thing to do.
Seriously, it's not just the amount of the money spent on health care, it's also from where that money is taken. Some of it would be saved and that would likely be invested, but much of it would be spent on goods and services, unlike executive salaries.
So where are the economists? When did they testify on the fiscal effects of a single payer plan?
-Hoot
In an article Teddy wrote: But quality care shouldn't depend on your financial resources, or the type of job you have, or the medical condition you face. Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to.
This is the cause of my life. It is a key reason that I defied my illness last summer to speak at the Democratic convention in Denver—to support Barack Obama, but also to make sure, as I said, "that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American…will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not just a privilege. For four decades I have carried this cause—from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society. Now the issue has more meaning for me—and more urgency—than ever before. But it's always been deeply personal, because the importance of health care has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years
- Senator Edward M. Kennedy It sure sounds like he describes something close to HR676. Perhaps we need an amendment to bypass congress to get single payer. 77% of us want it, all of us need it. -Hoot
We need to spread the word about the astroturfing of the health care debate. The group that got my attention is named Patients United Now: Who Are We?
We are Americans just like you.
The first two sentences of their about page. At the bottom there's this: Patients United Now is a project of Americans for Prosperity Foundation, which is a nonprofit organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. They set these guys up in June I think. Wait, that's easy enough to find out... Ah, it was May. Wow, APF owns 288 other domains shame the report is $500. The main reason I mention it is these guys are on the "scare the seniors" bandwagon.  Hell, with that ad, for all I know they are the mule pulling it. So what can we do about this crap? -Hoot
At 5:16PM EDST, at the tender age of 48, I became a grandfather.
Beloved mother and daughter, who is a wee bit small at 5 pounds even, are healthy and resting.
May my Mother Earth ever hold you to her breast.
May my Father Sky watch over you always.
Live free in peace.
-PapPap
Over a A band aid with a horned skull image on it.
Profit from refusing to pay for it is evil.
-Hoot
That's pretty much how I see it.
Please feel free to discuss.
-Hoot
This fine holiday finds a whole pork tenderloin on my counter warming to room temperature and waiting on the spice rub yet to be mixed and applied before its final journey into the smoker around noon. I have a maple deadfall branch out back which should provide enough sugar maple to cook several, let alone today’s entrée. Since I’m burning maple I should probably set up a smoke condenser and collect some liquid smoke for the spice cabinet, but I digress.
I mention today’s agenda only because it gives me a chance to reflect. It’s the slow burn sort of task that all else is worked around, laying in a small fire, half hourly temperature checks, monitoring the firebox, laying in soaked wood which makes better smoke and keeps the gasses a little cooler, the chamber a little moister, resisting the temptation of opening the main box especially when it smells so good. It gives time for the mind to slow which allows room for ideas to percolate.
One notion that I’m wrestling with this holiday is the nature of the holiday itself. We are to remember and honor our war dead. A subject worthy of our reflection if more of us would actually take the opportunity, but, the notion that entered my mind yesterday is how many of our war dead are not with us because of the military industrial complex rather than some just cause? Surely precious few in my lifetime, I can think of none really. Nearly 50 years of wars, skirmishes, actions, intercessions justified by the manipulation of the public’s fears and implemented over the objections of mothers.
Thousands of our young men killed, for what? The bottom line of General Electric? Maybe Raytheon? Sperry? General Dynamics?
Yes, I remember and honor those who died, but I’ll be damned if I honor why because it feels like we the people are little more than my cut of pork experiencing the slow burn.
-Hoot
Dear Senator Obama,
You take all the time your Grandmother needs without worry. Forget about us for a while, because you know that we know what is really important, and what real family values look like. Joe can cover the campaign and we have your back!
May my Mother Earth hold your family to her breast.
May my Father Sky watch over you all.
This, I pray for your family's health and safety.
-Hoot, and all my pals who have kicked and rec'd this thread.
Senator:
Obviously, your candidacy is one of historic significance. I am writing in the hope that you have the capacity to ignore the history you have already made, the history you are making and to encourage you to strive for the greatness that I see you have the potential to achieve. With great danger comes great opportunity and these are indeed dangerous times. With great power comes great responsibility and my prayer is that you have the capacity to respond magnanimously but firmly. My hope is that you have the capability to salvage the ship of State and that before I die I hear the name Obama honestly and honorably listed amongst the greatest of Presidents of The United States.
We have social issues that need attention and leadership. We need a leader that understands innately what Franklin Roosevelt knew: the best blossoms of capitalism can only flower when the roots are strong and well cared for. We face a shrinking economy that cannot sustain our population. We face a health care crisis that if left to the insurance industry will leave us literally dieing in the streets. We face an environmental shift of epic scale, with potential that has not been observed by humans since Cro-Magnon tribes inhabited Europe.
Even so, these are not the greatest threats to the people of the United States. In my perception, the greatest threat to our country is not even a partisan issue, nor it should it be. The greatest threat, the thing I hear my fellow citizens call for even while complaining about the issues I’ve already identified, is the return to the rule of law. In short, the American people are hungry for justice. Real justice rather than the sort that has been practiced for the last half of the twentieth century with the likes of the Warren Commission, Ford’s Pardon, the dropping of the BCCI and Iran-Contra investigations, and has risen to the present day rule by fiat and intimidation by surveillance and open torture of prisoners.
I have to ask you what legacy did you aspire to when you were working your way up, when you dreamed of your future while you were in Law School? We are nearly the same age, I’m 47. I have known no other form of justice in my lifetime, neither have you. Isn’t it time we experience our republic as the founders intended?
Our generation’s manipulation was executed subtly at first, while we were young. I’ve watched in horror as this faction, born of Watergate, nurtured by obstruction of justice, has enthusiastically stained the fabric of public trust so deeply.
I wish to leave you by asking that you consider a thought that would blow America’s mind, announce the arrest of Misters Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Powell, and Ms. Rice in your inaugural address. Make your first term about restoring constitutional law and enforcing the oath of office at every level of government.
With utmost respect and humility,
From Email: As we move toward the general election, the Democratic Party has to be the Party of ordinary Americans, not Washington lobbyists and special interests. So, as of this morning, if you're a federal lobbyist, or if you control political action committee donations, we won't be accepting your contribution.This is an unprecedented move for a political party to make -- one that has sent shockwaves through Washington and has turned the debate on clean campaigns upside down. We've unilaterally agreed to shut lobbyists out of the process, and are we're relying on people just like you. Just imagine what hundreds of thousands of Americans donating $20, $30, or $50 at a time can accomplish together. Imagine the signal that it sends to anyone who looks at John McCain's political machine and the special interest money it needs to fuel every move it makes. We have a chance to change the way business is done in this country, and we're taking the lead. Will you join us and make a contribution right now to help us elect Barack Obama? http://www.democrats.org/nonlobbyists I've written before about guys like Charlie Black and Rick Davis, lobbyists who are at the highest levels of McCain's campaign. But they're just the start -- John McCain and the RNC suck up lobbyist money millions of dollars at a time. In May, McCain had his best fundraising month of the campaign, and it was directly because he refuses to shut special interests out. But we did, and we need your help. This is an example of the kind of White House Barack Obama would run. Make a contribution to help elect him: http://www.democrats.org/nonlobbyists I'll be in touch later about our plans for the general election, but I wanted to let you know about our policy change right away. Thanks, Howard Dean Ok, people! It's fucking time to Cowboy Up! Rock On Howard! -Hoot
Three little words. These words appear on the Arms of West Point: The eagle is grasping a scroll bearing the words “ West Point , MDCCCII (1802), USMA,” and the motto, “Duty, Honor, Country.” The motto as such was never previously stated, but in writings of early superintendents, professors and graduates, one is struck by the recurrence of the words “duty,” “honor” and “country.” Colonel Larned’s committee believed Duty, Honor, Country represented simply, but eloquently, the ideals of West Point. These ideals, which the United States Military Academy attempts to instill in its graduates in order to give them a foundation upon which to fulfill the oath sworn to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States. Perhaps reviewing MacArthur's opinion of them is in order: ...Duty, Honor, Country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.
Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean.
The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule.
But these are some of the things they do. They build your basic character. They mold you for your future roles as the custodians of the nation's defense. They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid. They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for actions, not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future yet never neglect the past; to be serious yet never to take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength. They give you a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of an appetite for adventure over love of ease. They create in your heart the sense of wonder, the unfailing hope of what next, and the joy and inspiration of life. They teach you in this way to be an officer and a gentleman. ... - Douglas MacArthur's Thayer Award acceptance Speech. On this Memorial Day weekend, I want to ask the “more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants” which of these lessons did not stick? Did you not swear the same oath as I? Admittedly, I was enlisted, but is there really a difference? Is all it takes is a little money to throw your honor onto the mud to keep the boots of fascists clean? It that all it takes to persuade one to dishonor the memory those who have given the last full measure? How can you sleep knowing that you have created more memories of men that we have to remember in the years to come? How can you sleep knowing that you have sold the country? How can a man who loves his country do something so craven? How can you sleep knowing you participated in he farce that was foisted on the US public to keep the economic grist of blood flowing into the wheels set in motion by the war on terror? How are you not a traitor? -Hoot
On April 9th, ABC News reported that Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Powell, and Ashcroft met numerous times in 2002 and 2003 in order to plan interrogation techniques to be used in dealing with terrorists. Shortly after this report, the President bragged about approving these measures. Some techniques were approved which clearly violate Federal law and International treaties and have been historically punished by sentences of years at hard labor.
Unless those responsible are fairly investigated and prosecuted the United States will continue to be held in contempt by the international community, and rightly so. These acts have seriously damaged our security and the price will be paid in blood by our children.
Clearly these acts among others demonstrate that our leadership have conspired to break the laws that they are sworn to faithfully execute. Where is the outrage? Where is the Grand Jury? Oh, that's right, it's all "off the table!" We shall see if this stirs anyone.
The Castrato Congress.
That is all.
-Hoot
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