I Got Nothin’ November 30, 2010
Posted by Benjamin Wendell in Health Care, reader interaction.2 comments
I’ve really been letting my blogmate do the heavy lifting these last few days. I admit that my contributions have been close to nil. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. By way of excuse, I’ve been deeply embroiled in the care of my aging mother-in-law, who is currently residing at a “rehabilitation” facility (read: nursing home) near Mrs. Left and me. Trying to care for her and make the appropriate decisions regarding her care and her future gives me a deeper perspective on the whole issue of health care, death panels, rationing, and end-of-life planning. Bottom line: This shit ain’t easy. As a relative, it’s hard to know what’s appropriate, when we’ve done enough, when we’ve failed to do enough, whether there’s something we should have done that we’ve just completely overlooked. As a dispassionate observer with 35 years of experience in medicine, I see huge expenditures being thrown at an alarming pace, with little or no chance of actual patient improvement. Honestly, I wish there WAS a “death panel”. It would be nice if there was some expert who’d just sit us down and say, “Look you’ve done everything you can possibly do. We, as caregivers, have given everything reasonable that we have to give. Now we’re just going to make absolutely sure that your mother is comfortable.” Instead we’re floundering around like fish out of water, just hoping for some kind of epiphany. So that’s why I’ve not had much time to focus on politics the last few days. But I’ll still come up with something. Standby.
BW
Headsplit November 30, 2010
Posted by Cory Franklin in Uncategorized.add a comment
VDH on NRO:
Julian Assange prides himself on being a bomb-thrower, eager to take down Western governments and banks, the U.S. military, etc. Yet, in cowardly fashion, he stays clear of getting involved with dissident leakers from those governments and groups — e.g., China, Iran, North Korea, Hezbollah, Russia, Syria — that (1) do far more damage to the global body politic than the United States, and (2) might well do bodily harm to Mr. Assange should he do to them what he does to Western interests.
The federally funded National Portrait Gallery has a new postmodern Christmastime Hide/Seek exhibit (with a $750,000 price tag) that includes a video of Jesus on the cross being devoured by ants. Apparently such themes reveal that the Smithsonian-sponsored gallery is “committed to showing how a major theme in American history has been the struggle for justice so that people and groups can claim their full inheritance in America’s promise of equality, inclusion, and social dignity.” But if these subsidized race/class/gender operatives really wished to be avant-garde, why not do something really shocking and add a video of the Prophet to complement Jesus, as a sort of non-discriminatory, all-out assault on organized religion — especially given the clear gender/ gay bias in traditional Islam? Is the reason because Christians won’t do much to the courageous curators who are interested in “social dignity,” but radical Muslims might?
Not too long ago, the media was raging over Scooter Libby (who was charged with a crime that was not a crime, which, if it were one, he did not commit), and supposed Bush excesses. Now former Yale Law dean Harold Koh has stopped railing over supposed torture and is instead defending Obama’s vast expansion of Predator assassinations and writing government briefs against leaking. Hillary Clinton is urging diplomats to spy on U.N. personnel, and Barack Obama is trying to sell photo-ops to foreign leaders in exchange for taking Guantanamo detainees off his hands. Question — where is MSNBC, the New York Times, or NPR? Why no outrage over the legalization of robotic hits, federal intrusion into the lives of U.N. diplomats, or tawdry bartering on the part of our president?
Liberal angst is never really over transparency, freedom of artistic expression, or limitations on federal power, but over certain sorts of transparency, certain sorts of free expression, and certain sorts of government conduct.
The Most Important Thing You Will Read Today November 30, 2010
Posted by Cory Franklin in Uncategorized.add a comment
A Man Who Doesn’t Take Himself Too Seriously November 30, 2010
Posted by Cory Franklin in Uncategorized.add a comment
Super Bowl November 30, 2010
Posted by Cory Franklin in Uncategorized.add a comment
Too early to tell.
NFC:
Falcons -early pick. Very good
Packers -my team but can’t run short and special teams bad.
Bears -can’t throw long. Pass defense can be beaten by methodical offense.
Saints- weaknesses but can play. Could be there
Giants- I don’t think so.
Eagles -see Giants
NFC West – See Eagles
AFC:
Colts- blogmate right. Colts probably done.
Pats- Can throw, can’t run. D questionable.
Chargers- Great talent, no special teams, a history. D might carry them
Jets- not sure they could win a shootout.
Steelers- see Saints
Ravens- right now I’d go with them and Falcons but that could all change in next month.
Someone else might emerge but it won’t be Buffalo, the Lions, Vikings or Carolina.
What Next? Alaska Joins The SEC? November 30, 2010
Posted by Cory Franklin in Uncategorized.add a comment
TCU joins the Big East
Why Howard Dean Is An Arrogant Jerk November 30, 2010
Posted by Cory Franklin in Uncategorized.add a comment
Right, let the Government pick the guests. See how that works out.
The system has served us well for 200 plus years but he knows better.
If It’s Monday, This Must Be Indiana November 29, 2010
Posted by Benjamin Wendell in reader interaction, Uncategorized.add a comment
Many thanks to Cory for keeping the content flowing while I spent my weekend channeling Charles Dickens: It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. The best was seeing my grandson in Ohio, who even at the tender age of five months is clearly a future Nobel/Heisman candidate. The worst was accompanying my aging and dwindling mother-in-law to the ER twice in three days, where she had a series of medical treatments you DO NOT want to hear about. Suffice it to say that I’ve had less sleep over the Thanksgiving holiday than I had when I was a first year surgical resident in a place where the motto was: The only problem with being on call every other night is that you miss half the good cases. After getting a fitful two hours of sleep last night, I apologize if anything I write today is less coherent than an hour of Glenn Beck.
A few random ramblings: Stick a fork in the Colts. They’re done. Somewhere down the line, we’re going to find out what’s really going on with Peyton Manning. This is more than just a run of bad luck, and it’s not all due to the injuries. Speaking of injuries, I had a split lip or two back in high school, when I played pick-up basketball…badly, and almost always last pick. So I’m guessing that the president’s 12 stitches were just verrrry small stitches. I’m also guessing that the offending player is now checking out the court at sunny Gitmo. Leslie Nielson was a genuinely funny guy. The Wikkileaks documents are going to prove that diplomats are anything but diplomatic when they don’t think anyone is watching. Who’d have guessed? Al Sharpton hardly speaks for all liberals. Rush Limbaugh can say any damned thing he wants on any radio station that will have him. I’ve always believed that the purest form of American censorship is changing the channel. And Sunday Night Football ought to start at 6PM. Some of us have jobs we have to get up for on Monday mornings.
BW
