Memorial Day

In my local newspaper, Jim Kerr actually came up with a decent column for Memorial Day.

...When I stop to think about it, my indifference seems to reflect the way many people in this country have grown to view the war in Iraq.

Unless we have a loved one directly involved, the war has become sort of an annoyance, a source of strife that we hear about every day, just like high gas prices and the poor economy.

Many of us would rather just relegate it to the back of our minds or forget about it altogether.

But regardless of personal feelings about the war, as Americans, we can’t forget or neglect the brave men and women faithfully serving and sacrificing for this nation. We owe them a debt of gratitude and a measure of honor and respect...

...So, on Memorial Day, join me in acknowledging the names of some recent war casualties as released by the Department of Defense. I don’t have space here to list all the names from even one month, but here is a representative list of deaths from a randomly selected workweek – April 21-25:

• Spec. Lance O. Eakes, 25, Apex, N.C.

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Top 10 Articles of the Day

1. Coroner: Next of kin sought for Reading man 2. Sinking Spring man hurt when motorcycle hits car 3. Driver in Marion crash is still ‘critical’ 4. Muhlenberg ponders plans for farmhouse 5. Berks groups who place markers on graves of war veterans need more volunteers 6. Visitors take a walk into Boyertown history (WITH VIDEO) 7. Kutztown High School board facing big task 8. Baseball/football college bound 9. More Berks County residents are looking to create historic gardens 10. Tigers rewrite history with district 3 trifecta

• Spec. Benjamin K. Brosh, 22, Colorado Springs, Colo.

• Spec. Steven J. Christofferson, 20, Cudahy, Wis.

• Sgt. Adam J. Kohlhaas, 26, Perryville, Mo.

• 1st Lt. Matthew R. Vandergrift, 28, Littleton, Colo.

• Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter, 19, Sag Harbor, N.Y.

• Cpl. Jonathan T. Yale, 21, Burkeville, Va.

• Staff Sgt. Ronald C. Blystone, 34, Springfield, Mo.

• Staff Sgt. Shaun J. Whitehead, 24, Commerce, Ga.

Each of these names and many more like them represents a community in mourning. For each one, there’s a tearful widow or grieving mother seated in a cemetery and accepting a neatly folded American flag graciously presented by a sharply dressed military officer.

As a nation, we need to remember that, especially on Memorial Day.

So, before you fire up the grill or head off to the swimming pool today, take a moment to hang a flag from the front porch and pay tribute to the Americans who have died and are still dying in service to this nation.

They deserve that much. (emphasis mine)

On this day, remember those who selflessly do their duty for our benefit.

Vision Loss Redux Part XII

After a hiatus, my left eye has decided to get back into the act. I noticed tonight that my left eye has displayed a shadow...so it's back to 80 mg of pred for me for now. I've noticed a lot of shadows in my right eye...

God only knows what's causing this, and it's been difficult to keep my mind straight about this with my mind toggling between refusing to acknowledge this and wanting to learn braille.

God is good...all the time.

Pray for our Chinese Brothers

Pray for the many souls in Mianyang and the Sichuan Province, and give to help the physical needs.

Amazing Tornado Footage

Tornado footage from the sky...quite impressive

Double Standard

Where is the howling about Obama's stupidity? At least Dan Quayle was technically right - there were two ways to spell potato (in the 19th century)...there has never been 57 states...

Vision Loss Redux Part X I - update

"looking good!", the wizard says to me today. Things seem to have stabilized for the last several weeks. So, tomorrow I move down to 30 mg of prednisone. Still a very high dosage, but half of where I've been. This is the lowest I've been since this whole mess started. Every time I would move to 40, I would have flareups...so this is pretty significant. It probably has much to do with the other meds he put me on. To his knowledge, this med - cellcept - has never been used for eyes...but I guess I'm a pretty rare case.

He's convinced again that I have Susac's. He's going to call Dr. Susac and get the scoop.

Also, I'm seeing a rheumatologist that is sending me down the Georgetown U to her mentor. We'll see if he can shed some light on the mystery patient.

Also, she's the one that started me on this diet. Basically, the prednisone is beginning to give me diabetes and I need to watch what I eat. She said I didn't have to be strict with it...but I decided...why not? I was overweight before I started on the pred, and added 20 lbs. after. So, I'll be eating no carbs for the next two weeks during phase 1 of the South Beach diet.

I've never done this before, so I see it as an exercise in self-discipline. I will let you know if I cheat, honest! I'll twitter about my progress, and you can follow if you're some sort of diet voyeur, or if you're just interested. This could be fun...a new challenge!

Although...I missed dinner tonight because I worked late and had a meeting...and I'm feeling a little hungry...

16 Vials of Blood

Yes...you read that right, I gave 16 vials of blood today so my new rheumatologist could get a good read on what is going on.

Of course, I had forgotten that I was supposed to be fasting...so I did my morning routine...placed the bowl on the table with the silverware, cereal box, orange juice...began doling out my meds...then the thought hit me...no!!!

I had also eaten at 3 am, which would place me at about 1 pm at the earliest to get my blood drawn...thankfully, I was busy today and didn't have much time to think about my gradually weakening state...until I got to the clinic and she started pulling out handfuls of empty, greedy vials...

So...holes in both arms and a package of teddy grahams later, I walked out with loads of sympathy from the ladies.

Dr. Brown tomorrow...we'll see if I can reduce my prednisone dosage...

Dred Scott Thinking

"Reverend" Jeremiah Wright (see below if you've had your head in the sand) made me think of an essay I wrote awhile ago concerning the condemnation of our founders as racists...and those who attempt to interpret the Constitution according to the intent of the founders.

So, Scalia and Thomas are both racists (Thomas being a self-hater) because they interpret according to "strict construction" or simply attempting to discern what the founders meant when they said what they said, then applying those principles as best they can to current issues.

The Clinton Dynasty

From my friend, Glenn Shrom, author of Getting Past the Culture Wars: Regarding Intelligent Design:

Chelsea Clinton, if I am correct, will be eligible for the Presidency in 2016 (over age 35). Can you imagine a Clinton in the White House again?

Picture this: Bill 92-2000, Hillary 2008-2016, and Chelsea 2016-2024. Ouch!

Bill said he had a hard time adjusting to life outside of the White House, so imagine if this were his plan for the three of them to live there for 24 years of their lives, even with there being a two-term limit (per person, not per family).

Yikes...though I doubt President Chelsea would have dear old dad living in the the Lincoln Bedroom...

Nuclear Energy - "Why America Needs It Now"

If you've not considered the importance and safety of nuclear energy, watch this video of Skip Bowman at Fora.tv. Concerning the waste, here's an excerpt:

To put it in a little bit different way, if you and I received all our lifetime electricity from nuclear power from day of birth to age 70, the amount of waste contribution from our use of nuclear electricity would weigh about two pounds and would fit into a coke can. So you have to put this a little bit into perspective. I am not trivializing what must be done with it but it's not bigger than a bread box.

Sports

As someone who enjoys sports, there has been a void in my life since I've been on coumadin. Nosebleeds are generally considered to be a negative thing when you're not sure if the blood flow will stop prior being drained completely!

Well, at least I can still play ping-pong! Wrong, my friend...the ball disappears as it approaches the paddle! Oh well, at least I was never any good at it!

Doctor's Vists - the comedy of it all...

Doctor's Visit #1 - two weeks ago sometime...

Scenario - Kate and I enter the empty office of a rheumatologist, are admitted without incident and a very nice man takes us into his office and interviews me concerning my condition, etc.

He takes me through a thorough exam, says there's nothing obviously wrong with me, then begins to record into his digital voice recorder my history...

Dr: "He (referring to me) first experienced vision loss last year...[continues speaking]. Presses stop.
Me: Actually, I first started losing sight fall of '05. [repeats what I told him during the interview]
Dr. [rewinds the tape] begins again...as he's speaking he says, "he was on coumadin for a period of three months...
Me: No, I was on coumadin for a year with no incident, then came off in August of '07, then three months later had an incident, then was put back on at that time while I was in the hospital. Came off the coumadin about 4 weeks ago, had another incident 2 weeks ago, then was put back on...
Dr: [with a somewhat glazed look in his eyes] So, you were on coumadin with no incident for a year?
Me: Yes
Dr: [rewind]

This went on for some time as he, Kate and I reviewed the details that we had told him during the initial interview.

Long and short of it...very nice man, very not helpful. The most he did was recommend that I take an additional medication that I have no intention of taking.

Dr. Visit #2 - last week
Kate and I enter a completely empty office in the basement of a large house with very bright and attempted kid-friendly furniture. The pictures on the wall displayed a decidely odd taste and many of the messages on the wall were written in poem form that I assume were written by the man himself as they made you feel bad for the author who is so proudly displaying his sense of humor. Reminded me of the socially awkward high school kid that cracks jokes and thinks that people are laughing at his jokes.

We were ushered into a labyrinthine corridor and stationed in a small, windowless room with the typical 80's tripe being piped in through an unseen speaker. Claustrophobia begins to set in...

After a short time, a typical, doctor-looking person enters the room.

I will not write out the conversation as I will just try to capture the arrogance that he carried with him as best I can...just think of that same kid who nobody likes, but thinks they do, mocking you because you don't have any friends. You're not sure whether to punch him in the nose or just feel sorry for him.

So, in the course of the conversation, he belittled (some in a kind, doctorly sort of way, but most in a disgusted, "they are most definitely morons" sort of way), me, my wife, my wife's friend, Lyme disease doctors, any allergist that would consider that diet would have anything to do with inflammation, hollywood actors that have famously tried wacky alternative medicine, my doctor and one of his patients who thought that maybe her daughter had allergies. I may have missed one or two...

After a bit, I found myself nodding and agreeing with everything he said just to get him to stop talking...

Upon reflection, we should have just got up and left, but of course, I'm much more pro-active in my "should've" life than in my "in-the-moment" life.

By the way, you should meet me in my should've life! I am so witty and good at kung-fu!

Oh, and in the middle of all this he says..."we can do an allergy test if you want...but it would just confuse the situation." The conversation was also sprinkled in with gems of advice like, "you really need to be careful what you read on the internet" [Oh, thank you, font of wisdom, for I am a poor, lowly sap that doesn't know the difference between reliable and unreliable websites, as you surely must!] and "I don't know really what to recommend except to get another doctor".

So, we left the office after having wasted $40 and a couple hours. But, at least I got a blog post out of it!

Typical Double Standard

From Commentary Magazine:

In an article today, Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post cites various media figures–from Tom Shales of the Post to Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher to Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News to MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann–who are outraged at the performance of George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson during Wednesday’s Democratic debate. The ABC News duo’s performance, we are told, was “despicable,” “shameful,” and “disgraced democracy itself.”

And what did Stephanopoulos and Gibson do to earn this scorn? Why, they asked Barack Obama some probing questions, including one about his past relationships with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr. and a former leader of the Weather Underground, William Ayers.

Consider this thought experiment: Assume that a conservative candidate for the GOP nomination spent two decades at a church whose senior pastor was a white supremacist who uttered ugly racial (as well as anti-American) epithets from the pulpit. Assume, too, that this minister wasn’t just the candidate’s pastor but also a close friend, the man who married the candidate and his wife, baptized his two daughters, and inspired the title of his best-selling book.

In addition, assume that this GOP candidate, in preparing for his entry into politics, attended an early organizing meeting at the home of a man who, years before, was involved in blowing up multiple abortion clinics and today was unrepentant, stating his wish that he had bombed even more clinics. And let’s say that the GOP candidate’s press spokesman described the relationship between the two men as “friendly.”

Do you think that if those moderating a debate asked the GOP candidate about these relationships for the first time, after 22 previous debates had been held, that other journalists would become apoplectic at the moderators for merely asking about the relationships? Not only would there be a near-universal consensus that those questions should be asked; there would be a moral urgency in pressing for answers. We would, I predict, be seeing an unprecedented media “feeding frenzy.”

The truth is that a close relationship with a white supremacist pastor and a friendly relationship with an abortion clinic bomber would, by themselves, torpedo a conservative candidate running for president. There is an enormous double standard at play here, one rooted in the fawning regard many journalists have for Barack Obama. They have a deep, even emotional, investment in his candidacy. And, as we are seeing, they will turn on anyone, even their colleagues, who dare raise appropriate and searching questions–the kind journalists are supposed to ask. The reaction to Stephanopoulos and Gibson is a revealing and depressing glimpse into the state of modern journalism.

Quote of the Day

Senator John McCain could never convince me to vote for him. Only Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama can cause me to vote for McCain.

-Thomas Sowell

Johns Hopkins no more

I was planning on going to Johns Hopkins..had an appointment scheduled and everything...but they don't accept my insurance, not even with a preauthorization. "That's curious", I thought, "why would a hospital not accept insurance payments, even when the insurance would gladly allow me to go out of network?"

"They either don't pay, or the process is so torturous that they don't want to be bothered with it...but more likely the former", I replied to me.

So, what to do? I'm getting advice from a doc and beginning to pursue something that neither of us are sure will go anywhere, but at least it's something. I'll let you know if it works.

Interesting article in WSJ today on health insurance as the middleman hiking prices. The comments on this related blog post are very good and insightful, especially for one newly coming to the realization of the fiasco that health insurance has become.