Craig Crawford's Trail Mix

BOO!

craig, so you've got the queen of england in your pocket today.... tomorrow, who knows, maybe the world.
merkel just needed a little shoulder massage a la shrub.
matisse poster, nice touch.

ct, does that giant beaver look like these?

http://nature.ca/notebooks/English/giantbev.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Beaver

the pocumtuck tribe of the connecticut river valley has a legend of a giant beaver:

The Great Beaver (Field, 1870-1879)

"The Great Beaver, whose pond flowed over the whole basin of Mt. Tom, made havoc among the fish and when these failed he would come ashore and devour Indians. A pow-wow was held and Hobomock raised, who came to their relief. With a great stake in hand, he waded the river until he found the beaver, and so hotly chased him that he sought to escape by digging into the ground. Hobomock saw his plan and his whereabouts, and with his great stake jammed the beaver's head off. The earth over the beaver's head we call Sugarloaf, his body lies just to the north of it."

muscially going with the high school theme

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7zzbB17Fvo

oops, meant "musically" as in high school musical

Actually Pat I haven't seen beaver one yet. No normal one, no giant one but it isn't because I haven't been trying. I've just seen the damage. You'd have to ask the guy that almost hit it.

Now Solar doesn't believe that a giant beaver, just a measly 13,000 years extinct, would come back. But if it were too, then good old Louisiana with it's great food and tasty trees would be the place for it to do it. Not to mention the friendly hospitality. Well actually some of the neighbors have been a gunning for those beavs.

Good morning, ladies -- I woke back up from my nap. My pattern seems to be napping then up, napping then up. Gone are the days of a solid night's sleep.

My son left to go back to DC this morning. My daughter and granddaughter left yesterday. I just hate it.

However I have three new kittens. Just about a week old.

aha, beavers and pets, can get two posts with one link this time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oEUvP7tAi4&feature=related

Yep Patsi, it seems to start at around 50 for us womens. It's a drag. Nice to have somewhere to go, and not have to leave your bed, in the wee hours of the morning.

Did Sarcozy get caught with his hand out and nothing to do with it? How embarassing. Serves him right.

Now back to another manic Monday, trying to catch up after a long three day weekend. After all the work getting ready for that party it will seem like just a vacation.

wapo on hillary.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/060809-morning-fix-hillary-unb.html?hpid=news-col-blog

new orleans mayor "shanghaied"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8088574.stm

And Craig, another clever video. You are an inspiration for the rest of us.

Hey to go with the Beaver can you add a Gopher and a Woodchuck?

Snub Barack? I thought that Europe was just so taken by him.... Ummm

Craig.... ROFL!
love the Brits... hate the French... love the French... hate the Brits... what's a fun lovin' American to do...

saw the Star Trek movie last night..... aaahhhhh.... that movie warmed the cuckolds of this old Trekker's heart....

we missed this big booboo by google... unless they know something we don't

http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/

ping, re gopher

the turtle?
http://www.gophertortoise.org/tortoise/facts.htm

or this cute fuzzy critter
http://members.shaw.ca/jimlinville/RaptureGopher.jpg

or the former repub congressman from iowa?

the motion picture industry is like high school with money.

--jack nicholson

politics must be a lot like the motion picture industry.

----sturgeone

renee, high five and
"Live long and prosper."

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/gop-misfires-again.html#comment-234250 "...all the new gadgets we have today for them to play with is just socializing them more."

Yes Bethy, I was thinking about that too. The are so many 'things' now in all areas of helping raise babies and children, They assist in teaching, socializing, entertaining, relaxing and exercising. All the gadgets make it so much easier. It also helps that we've become more aware and have changed our expectations, as well as our comprehension of what they are capable of.
.............

Patsi, Congrats on those 3 new kittens. I sure wish you'd post a picture periodically, and let us join you in watching them grow. Baby kittens are so precious.

what is that item on the left behind craig that looks like craig? could it be his doppleganger?

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/viewarticle.php?id=201

Craig, It's nice to see you simplifying and putting into perspective all the silly things that happen in politics. It's all about control, power and of course popularity, just like High School. Fun take you have on it Craig.

btw, further down in that 9:19 foreign policy link one can see "Norm Coleman saying that Republicans need to compete even on blogs, Twitter and...the ethernet"...
he says they need a repository.
more like a suppository imo.

sorry, that was 9:15 link.... oh heck, might as well link it to be sure

http://neteffect.foreignpolicy.com/

Barack Obama is increasing stimulus spending
"President Barack Obama is announcing Monday that he is ramping up stimulus spending exponentially in the next three months, allowing the administration to “save or create” 600,000 jobs — four times as many as during the first 100 days since he signed the bill.

The spending plans include National Parks, summer youth jobs, veterans’ medical centers, police and teachers."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23467.html

"what is that item on the left behind craig that looks like craig?"

I noticed that little Craig statue too Pat. Craig has lots of toys. :)

chloe, your post on the increased spending reminded me of a mccain quote from one of his repub primary debates.

"Congress spends money like a drunken sailor
We lost the election in 2006 because we lost our way. We began to value principle over power, and spending got out of control. Spending lurched completely out of control. Ronald Reagan used to say, we spend money like a drunken sailor. I never knew a sailor, drunk or sober, with the imagination of the Congress. I received an e-mail recently from a guy who said, “As a former drunken sailor, I resent being compared to members of Congress.”
Source: 2007 GOP primary debate, at Reagan library, hosted by MSNBC May 3, 2007

Something I haven't seen discussed 'til now (which doesn't mean it hasn't been).

Ailing Kennedy Key to Health Bill
With Cancer Keeping Senator at Home, Legislation Could Take Different Form
" The future shape of the U.S. health-care system could hang on the uncertain health of one very prominent American.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee and a senator for more than 45 years, has championed health-care issues his whole career. But he has been fighting brain cancer and working on the legislation long distance from his Massachusetts home. Meanwhile, Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.), chairman of the Finance Committee, is crafting a bill of his own that could set legislation on a different path.

If the liberal Mr. Kennedy takes a lesser role, that could make it easier for the more-conservative Mr. Baucus to push the health-care legislation in a centrist direction...."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124441710232892353.html

1) Craig: And the internet itself is a middle school lunch table where people who could never find much of a place anywhere with everyone now seat themselves everywhere among people they never would have dreamed (or nightmared) about approaching or even making eye contact with, whether from massive insecurity or a certain innate wisdom. Now we point, click, talk, blather, declare, attack, demean, diminish and (worst of all) date. A "high school" like politics for guys like me would not only be a step up... it might even be a cleansing and peaceful relief.

2) Renee: "the CUCKOLDS of this old Trekker's heart"??!?? Your heart -- the loom of your life -- has CUCKOLDS? Oy -- what a tangled web it weaves!

Well these are mainly NATO nations despite the "special relationship" between the US and Britain. Can't have frenchy dissing out queen, but in the end, We Go Together

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CGuvgv9h10

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/all-the-worlds-a-high-school-s.html#comment-234294

Patd, How in the world did you remember him saying that? You've got a lot better memory than me. That quote is perfect! You couldn't have posted it at a better time.

.... but, I still don't know where I stand on this. I like the idea of spending it on parks, jobs, va medical centers, police and teachers. But the what the result will be, I don't know.

"Now we point, click, talk, blather, declare, attack, demean, diminish and (worst of all) date."

Nice to see you her 911. You pretty much covered it all in that sentence. I can't think of a thing to add. :)

Jamie, It's always nice to see that scene from Grease. Thanks for linking it.

chloe,

It's the rare non-treatment day (weekly thingees from May through July and possibly beyond). Despite the funky side effects there is a core of better strength and well-being emerging for the first time in two years. (Plus I am not drowning everything within a one foot vicinity in sweat. My keyboard thanks me for that.)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6464089.html

Here's a pleasant look at taxes.......:)
Close to home for me too....

911, I'm glad to hear that. I often wonder about how you're doing. That treatment sounds pretty miserable, and I have no doubt that you're a much stronger person than I am.

It's always such fun to read what you have to say and the way you say it. Hope we'll see you around more.

9/11....
hey there buddy.... of course it's an improper use for a woman..... but if that word got you to come out and play.... it was worth it....

and now for a CBobish interlude.... today is World Ocean Day....
http://deepseanews.com/2009/06/world-ocean-day-message-from-bob-breen/

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/all-the-worlds-a-high-school-s.html#comment-234293

That is probably a Craig Crawford bobblehead. He collects political bobbleheads and the companies that make them will do one of anyone in case you are looking for a surprise gift for someone.

http://www.bobbleheads.com/entity/tabid/84/c-11-other-political-figures.aspx

Just checked. They have an Arlen Spector sprouting donkey ears. :-)

Welcome home 9/11. It''s wonderful when you drop in and we miss you when you are gone.

http://custom.bobbleheads.com/

I'm going to make a note of that Jamie. I take it they must work from a picture you send them. (?) It would make a good gift, to have one made of someone and surprise them with it.

Economic problems causing lurch to the right in Europe. Not a good sign considering the last time this happened

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/26598

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/all-the-worlds-a-high-school-s.html#comment-234302

Jax, I didn't even know there were cities with zero property tax. As a matter of fact, ours just went up, when the county reappraised.

chloe,

It's a treatment that is very hard to get approved for. Why? Only five or six people officially have had it and the study that announced its success was barely a sketch.

And I got it.

This may be an interesting (and far from absolute) anecdote about health care system as it stands.

I was taking a much hyped (by its manufacturer and the FDA whose published approval of it struck my hematologist was "very odd" as it recommended it as a first line treatment for CLL when the tests showed it worked best as a complementary med to Rituxan with refractory cases like mine.

It was a real disaster. A node the size of a banana in my neck got ambitious and grew to plantain level. And it took my once impassable immune system and turned it into a Maginot line. Which led to an immense infection. Which led to my walking to an ER after seeing my hematologist and an infectious disease doc. Where they put me in the resuscitation room immediately. And then into the step down unit (which is just below the ICU in urgency -- hence the name). Three of my four doctors believed I'd be out of there in two days -- but not in a nice way. I was out in seven days in a nice enough one... again on my feet.

But my platelets were utterly face down on their barroom floor. From the Treanda, the infection and the intense antibiotics they were down to 13K.

Other than the predictable issues, I could not have ANY potentially effective approved treatment: I'd need at least my normal level of 60-70K. (The lowest normal level for platelets is around 150K.)

So my hematologist who in the past would not even consider a treatment that had less than several hundred patients in its trials fought to get this one -- fresh frozen plasma and Rituxan.

After five weeks of that and IVIG... it may be working.

The process to get it approved was exhausting.

Within the insurance company... the people with whom I spoke were really helpful in setting up strategies after their on-salary hematologists insisted I use "conventional" treatments.

In the end... I appealed to an independent NYS board and my doctor went to an indisputable colleague who told them to approve it.

So now I am receiving as much delectably toxic Rituxan in 12 weeks as I would in 24 months. My kidneys don't love me. The plasma and the IVIG have turned me into a festival of allergies and arthritic and muscle pain. Also headaches and goopy fatigue. I require pretty much constant hydration. And if this does work... I probably will have to do it again six months after I finish.

That is... if I can get approval for it again.

And if I don't...?

WHo knows!

There is a new, advanced version of the successful biological treatment Rituxan started heading for FDA approval. And it is claimed to be created specifically for generally untreatable cases like mine.

What I have is the most prevalent and least attended form of leukemia. Mine is an aggressive version of what most people for years brushed off as a largely indolent condition which could go forever without treatment. And as it was assumed to be a condition of advancing age... it got ignored. Which wasn't helped by its stupid, stubborn intransigence.

My closest chemosabe is one of the country's most remarkable neuroscientists. He has a very close first cousin of what I have. Once it mutated into a deadly form of mantle cell lymphoma. Now it has advanced to Stage II brain cancer. (Imagine being a neuroscientist with brain cancer -- there is very little chance of a naive refuge there. However, he knows that at last due to all the work on his head he has at last achieved transference with all his beloved lab monkeys.)

Again... this was ignored for decades.

And the Treanda was a phony -- a three decade old East German pass at nitrogen mustard that was a pure profit device for its American "manufacturer". As an "orphan drug" (most new treatments for CLL are that) it cost them little to develop and they now own its patent. It's rather like finding a wallet on a street and being able to keep not just the money but the credit cards and ID as well.

And this... this little thing that patients have been clamoring for online for awhile and only a bunch of docs in Israel and Greece chose to explore in a cursory (but valuable) way....

It may work for awhile in me.

I'm most fortunate to be receiving this, Chloe. So far the IVIG (gamma globulin) ain't doin' much that's perceivable with my platelets and IG levels. But it is driving me nuts with its side effects and it does make the most picturesque bubbles as its jars empty themselves. (It's only slightly less viscous than peanut butter in its density.)

But... the sweats are amazingly diminished. And even my deeply honest hematologist feels that the node may be softer and yielding more to touch.

We're passing on a CT scan until this is done. What I'm writing here is about ten times as long as this protocol's published study: there is a theory about why it works but there is no indication of when and how that happens in patients.

The point is... I worked with customer support people, nurses and advocates in the insurance company in good faith and with real respect.

The denials supposed were irreversible. But with my doctor's smarts and the information those people on the phone gave me... we got just enough to turn over all their decisions AND make them pay for not just the treatment but the cost of pursuing it.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/gop-misfires-again.html#comment-234250

Bethy --

Catching up to the "late show." No, I've not had the trouble you've had with the 'dillos, but don't feel bad that you do. I occasionally mistype "myopenid." "D" and "S" are adjacent on the keyboard and I'm a poor typist.

jamie and renee,

Thanks. I'm glad to be here for a bit.

One more thing.

I hear mainly from old girlfriends. One let me know she had married again and divorced quickly thereafter.

I didn't ask her why she would marry a man she knew was imbalanced.

But she told me. You see, she dwelled for years on WHO would take her to the hospital when she got sick.

As I wrote... I left two doctor offices and WALKED twenty blocks to the ER... in light rain... with a 105 fever and blood pressure of 160.

I needed to think about my family and how I would find my way through this without panic while peeing into funny jars and wearing an amazing monocolor coat of needles.

That's not the first time I've heard a person agonize a bit (or more) over this hospital trip thing.

If I really wanted someone to take me to the ER in a crisis... I could have made the most romantic gesture I know:

Lift up my arm, open my heart and flag a cab.

NK sentencing of journalists

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_nkorea_journalists_held

9/11...
wow.... that's some story about getting your treatment... oh but doncha know that we have the best medical system in the world and Canadians have to wait 5 years for an xray.... :0)

Bethy.... don't have a heart attack.... I do know the word is "cockle"....

now I have to go to the drugstore and get my own medication.... went to take my meds this morning and 2 of them were empty.... but that's what I get for being determined to take a whole Sunday off.....

Cute video, Craig. My sentiments exactly. Many, if not all, so-called leaders are caught up in self-importance and grandiosity. Could use a basic course in "How to be an Adult."

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/all-the-worlds-a-high-school-s.html#comment-234312

I've got 911 on speed dial and my son on ICE so they know whom to call. Worse comes to worse, stagger to front yard and hope Roger is mowing the lawn next door. :-) Definitely don't need to get married just to get a ride.

REALLY good to see you here again, 9/11!

Between the cockles and dillos around here, you have to read very, very carefully. If someone named John starts posting we could be in real trouble.

"I'm most fortunate to be receiving this, Chloe."

I appreciate you explaining all of that 911. The sentence I quoted above was such an important one to me, your feeling fortunate. It showed me what keeps you going, where your strength comes from. The secret ingredient that helps you accomplish what others can't. You are a real inspiration.

I noticed that you said you're working with customer support people, nurses and advocates in good faith and with respect. That respect you give them says so much about who you are. I wondered how you did it, and now I think I know.

You and your doctor (and your chemosabe) are doing wonderful work, and I wish you the best. PLEASE keep us updated and informed. We can all learn so much from you and are rooting for you.

9/11 --

Your strength and spirit is inspiring.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/all-the-worlds-a-high-school-s.html#comment-234312 "Lift up my arm, open my heart and flag a cab."

When you say it like that, it does sound like a romantic gesture. :)

I could have made the most romantic gesture I know:

Lift up my arm, open my heart and flag a cab.

----------------------

Sweet

Salon article - Right Wing even crazier than you think

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/06/08/obama_myths/?source=newsletter

ivy, chloe --

This is just like any aspect of life -- friendship, love, work.

The only advice I ever can offer is to try understanding how you (or me or a very large beaver) effectively can decline to any and all order of circumstances and conditions that may affect us in harsh ways all or part of our identity.

What we learn through things is valuable. And we can pursue all levels of outcome from the micro to the fairly immense... it's how the process lives and not where it is going which keeps us open enough and appreciative.

There was a truly astounding song on last night's Tonys from the musical "Next to Normal". The mother was in a dire mental state. And all she would sing no matter how sincerely and lucidly her husband and son expressed all they felt and understood about her... she would sing one vocal wall -- "You don't know!"

I think people all know. Whatever panic or resentment or urge to flee or deny people seem to manifest seems to prove... we all know.

I also think it's a good job on this planet to let the people who love you find where to stand by figuring out where you should stand. Sometimes we can be more successfully close at some distance than we can nose to nose.

At least unless one of us isn't a dog.

Or a giant headed beaver.

Strangely listening to all kinds of Mahler performances helps me a lot, too. The man knew and found ways to know with greater distillation of the knowledge.

It's me, I'm here so I'll say it as always -- kefir helps, too. And BOY does it help clean up uric acid from dying cancer cells.

I didn't know until I nosed around online this Saturday that among mammals only the upper primates and... dot, dot, dot... Dalmations can't process that well and wind up with toxic stones and other messes.

Who knew who wasn't named Spot?

jamie,

I read that, too. Only thing I'll really try to pry from my memory cells with a spatula is what Victoria Jackson announced. Sometimes I think a person can do too many headstands. (Anyone remember hers?)

c-bob,

It is. Nothing quite like finding a cab that wants you in this cold, cruel world --

And that isn't heading back to its garage because the shifts are changing.

Real Blue Corn
My friend Fish, one of the best graphic artists working in America sent me this :

http://cbhopibluecornexperiment.blogspot.com/

C-bob,

American advertising art is always at your cervix.

"Sometimes we can be more successfully close at some distance than we can nose to nose"

Truer words, 911, ......

Real Blue Corn
My friend Fish, one of the best graphic artists working in America sent me this :

http://cbhopibluecornexperiment.blogspot.com/

Summer slid in here , this weekend . Upper 90's, and into the 100's by midweek.
When we first met 9/11 here, I didn't think we'd see a lot me or him. Now I'm helping haul steel around Texas, and he's still trying to catch a cab.

Looks like I underestimated the scrap in the dogs. That yellow sick cat we had that summer, he didn't make though.

I seem to have a slight case of "double postitis".

C-bob,

I'm here (and a few -- very few -- elsewheres) because Miss Birdies and Muzzy want me to be. (Even though one of them finds me very "dupiddupiddupid".)

"Salon article - Right Wing even crazier than you think"

No shit!!!!!

Gawd, Bob. Is this guy a serious redneck?

One more thing about Fish, he's designing us a " Solar Corn " logo for the oven.
Should be good , if you're gonna have a little commie art commune in West Texas , get yourself a good ad artist.

Patsi -

Have a cracker.

"I seem to have a slight case of "double postitis""

There's been a lot of that going around here... (I think it may be a program glitch). Sure glad you both still 'are' here. I don't know what I'm doing.... I must get some work done. Later

Clinton honored for '18 million cracks' in glass ceiling
"Yet again, Secretary Clinton receives an award. Today, she receives the Alice Award, presented annually to a woman who has made "an outstanding contribution in breaking barriers and setting new precedents for women." Clinton is being honored for putting "eighteen million cracks" in the glass ceiling." http://hillary.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/06/08/clinton_honored_for_18_million_cracks_in_glass_ceiling

C-bob,

I believe Patsi gets crackers delivered by the industrial sized storage palette every time she leaves her front door.

And Patsi gets 18 million crackers?

I say Patsi earned a few shots in life at a bunch of those awards. (I remember she got the pair no one else could one year in Colorado. Maybe one, maybe the other -- just not BOTH.)

Whoa...Laura Bush won't be cementing her position as a Republican here:

"Former first lady Laura Bush says she's pleased that President Barack Obama nominated a woman for the Supreme Court.

"I think she sounds like a winner and a good nominee," Bush said of Sonia Sotomayor, the federal appeals judge Obama picked.

Mrs. Bush said in an interview broadcast Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America" that "as a woman, I'm proud that there might be another woman on the court. I wish her well."

9/11 -
She can burn up a keyboard with the best of them.

Patsi,

Later we can look to see exactly what opprobrium (if any) comes out of NRO, Malkin, Limbaugh, Hannity about this. And maybe about her instead of what she spoke.

If so, then Kathleen Parker gets to write another really charming column for WaPo calling out her colleagues on the right which makes me silly and dewy. (Also Hughie and Louie.)

Given what Bush stated about his deferring any comments about Obama's administration... I guess Laura's approach is the same as Cheney's: "let George NOT do it... I will!"

Just in a healthy, sane vein of thought unlike Dick's (which need something a lot stronger than a pacemaker to make his brain blood flow normally).

Will she speak out again? And about what?

C-bob,

And she can and she does.

I'll stick to spilling water and coffee on mine.

The relief column is in transit, off to Iron Works , where we shall go at it with hammer and thongs. Or tongs as the case may be.

Craig,

Somehow I think your first book won't become a bestseller in North Korea.

Go, my Bob, with a thong in your hearth!

The last time I bent this much sheet metal Charles Whitman was looking for the elevator in the Univ. of Texas Tower. , and Marsha Reed was letting me drive her red Jaguar 340D coupe. One of those summers of love.

Guess it depends on what kind of cracker you are talking about. The kind Polly wants or the kind we often see in Texas and Tennessee....

The White House has announced that following a stumble at LaGuardia Airport, Judge Sotomayor has fracture one of her ankles.

The White House says it was the right ankle.

Within minutes expect to hear Limbaugh, FOX News and half the blogosphere declare this proves Judge Sotomayor relies on her left for support even if she deceptively appears to be favoring the right.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/06/08/sotomayor_breaks_her_foot.html?hpid=topnews

C Bob,

Which former kid star played Whitman in a TV movie?

Patsi,

Polly might bite the second kind until they scream. But she'd only swallow what the first sort has to offer.

I was bending sheet metal then, too. However, it was in metal shop and I didn't expect to get paid. (Or pass the course. One out of two ain't bad.)

And now my mind can't stop singing, "Drinkin' wine, spodee 3-4-OH-dee."

Thanks, Bob!

Taking it back.

I got confused over being seven and being in seventh grade.

politics must be a lot like the motion picture industry.

----sturgeone

"Washington is Hollywood for ugly people."

-John McCain (maybe)

From TPM:

Right-Wingers To Boycott GM?

"The Detroit Bureau reports that an idea seems to be picking up some cachet on the right-wing blogs and in talk radio: Fighting the "Government Motors" bailout by boycotting the company. Most of it so far is limited to relatively little-known writers, but two big names have picked up on it: Hugh Hewitt, who wants to save free enterprise -- and Rush Limbaugh, who wants anything President Obama does to fail, and is urging his listeners to help push towards that goal."

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/right-wingers-to-boycott-gm.php?ref=fpblg

CBob

Here's a little something to help you move all that metal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqTGdnifJco

Another SCOTUS 5 - 4 decision.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote a dissent in which he asserted that, contrary to the majority’s insistence, the outcome in Caperton v. Massey “will inevitably lead to an increase in allegations that judges are biased, however groundless those charges may be.”

“The end result will do far more to erode public confidence in judicial impartiality than an isolated failure to recuse in a particular case,” the chief justice wrote, listing dozens of questions that he said the majority had raised without really answering and that the lower courts will have to wrestle with. Joining the chief justice in dissent were Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.

Seems to me, the seemingly endless string of 5-4 Supreme Court decisions are what will erode confidence in the court.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/us/politics/09scotus.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

I'm sorry, but I missed quotation marks at the beginning of the second graf, and the end of the third.

Well, according to The NYT the NYS Democratic Party may have lost control of the State Senate. (Not that they were accomplishing anything with it... or the State Assembly... or the Governor's Mansion.)

One of the two State Senators who appear to have defected to the GOP over the gay marriage bill is the ever lovely Hiram Monserrate of Queens.

Here's a story from the January 7th Daily News. (I believe it was a cover story that day... at least online.)

"A Queens state senator who denies beating his girlfriend was caught on security cameras dragging the scared, bleeding woman from his apartment, law enforcement sources told the Daily News."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/01/06/2009-01-06_sources_say_video_shows_sen_hiram_monser.html#ixzz0HsAu7XVd&D

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/01/06/2009-01-06_sources_say_video_shows_sen_hiram_monser.html

Survivor,
I guess, marriage to him would not be gay in any sense of the word.

judge sotomayor should impress the jocks today by going on with her interview appointments while playing hurt... isn't that a badge of honor in the sports world? just hope that whatever meds the docs gave her won't cause a problem in those close encounters with the turd kind she might run into today at the senate.

pat,
You're assuming any Senator would shut up for sufficient time for her to talk.

911, whatever else that new treatment is doing for your platelets, it sure seems to be strengthening your funny bone... you're on a roll. glad to see you back with such gusto.

911, if or when I get cancer, and with my family history it is more likely when, I'm calling you for advice. You hang in there kid and let us all know how you're doing. I'll have to say that hanging out with the peeps here can do wonders for your psyche. They keep me laughing out loud, day and night.

ct,

I hope you never have to but the invitation's open... even if it's someone you know and not you.

Was this Monserrate of Queens ever arrested for assaulting that woman?

cajunjoe,

I think Hiram's true dedication is to making Spitzer look good. What's a prostitute humping narcissist with a penchant for frogwalking johns he had busted in front of the cameras got to top a brute like bloodwrenching Handsome Hiram?

patd,

I think the reason is I don't take prednisone again until tomorrow night. After that... my funnybone withdraws into a quietly tempered state.

ct,

He's been indicted.

911, my mom had a very rare kind of cancer, an adrenal corticocarcinoma. I had her in the best cancer hospital in these parts. I was very disappointed in that hospital, not the regular staff working there because they were all angels, but her Docs left a lot to be desired.

We did our homework, she made the final decisions and she outlived anyone in any of the study groups I researched. We didn't get any of the info, that I found in my literature search, from her Docs but they didn't dispute it when I discussed it with them.

When you have cancer you need to do as much research as you can. Maybe it is not as important in more common types of cancer but definitely in rare types of cancer.

ct,

I feel the research is essential in all blood based cancers. Tumor based cancers are fairly consistent things -- at least compared to leukemias, lymphomas, myelomas, aplastic anaemias, etc., which can mutate wildly.

Ultimately I think all cancers are like all other auto-immune conditions... however closely observed and treated they may be, they are pretty much syndromes rather than diseases... which means each case at any moment in time is a pretty individual event.

I can only congratulate the memory of your mom and your family.

Also... I love my hematologist who is a 78 year old woman of remarkable character. She does not give up. But most of my questions go to the nurses... who are life's most valuable players and prayers.

I'll stick with what Civil War Nurse Walt Whitman wrote -- that the measure of a society's worth is how it treats its nurses.

Thanks 911, I hope all nurses try to live up to earning that kind of respect. As a nurse educator for 23 years I sure tried to get that point across.

And to tell them that as nurses we have our unique and valuable contribution to health care. The worst thing we can do is try to imitate physicians. Sorry all you Docs out there. Even as a NP I don't try to imitate physicians. Nothing more insulting than calling me a junior doctor or almost a doctor.

ct,

The oncology nurses I know do. And I can't think of any two of them who came from a similar background.

One in particular found her strength and its value just after leaving school.

Her first job -- this is before she started work with cancer patients -- was at the horrible Willowbrook facility in the 70's. When she was scheduled to leave for another job, she decided to stay until it was closed. Why? Those damaged, abused, lost children needed people who they knew to stay.

So she did in that literal hell hole.

ct,

That goes beyond just being smart.

The emotional foundation of nurse training outstrips that of doc training; at least, that's what I keep experiencing.

The only docs I know who think their role is "healing" rather than treating are the ones who charge $500 a visit, don't take insurance and have lots of expensive alternative to biomedical products to sell for lots of cash.

There are doctors who I trust and not because I succumbed to the Stockholm Syndrome.

With nurses when it comes to illness and treatment it really is at its best one hell of an interesting and effective collaboration in real time with the patients... however aware or unaware they are of what's really happening.

Patients must understand that they are in charge of their health care, all of us working in the health care system are their consults. We are just the hired help. They need to make the informed decisions.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/all-the-worlds-a-high-school-s.html#comment-234352

9/11 You know whenever a triva questions starts: What former child star played .... the answer is always Kurt Russell. :-)

" What former child star played .... the answer is always Kurt Russell. :-)"

HA! Jamie -- I bet you're right!

All this medicine .. two new shows and both look interesting in their own way. Nurse Jackie on Showtime. It premiers tonight, but I've already seen the episode on demand. Edie Falco as a dedicated nurse with a back problem that leads to a pain killer problem. Both funny and tragic.

The other is Royal Pains on USA. Dedicated doc gets bounced from the upward mobility track and right into the Hamptons treating zillionaires. Highly improbable, glitzy fantasy but fun.

Carol, one of my nieces is an NP--was one of the early DON recipients. And two of my grandchildren are RNs (Korean flavor) having earned their BSNs there.

One just received her I-20 visa in today's mail. So, we'll have her here in Columbia next month. Our daughter will stay with us for a few weeks fussing over her kid, then she is back to the rest of our Korean family.

9/11! It's really great seeing you back. Your ears must have been burning because I was just asking myself where you were and how you are doing. Please, don't leave so suddenly without saying when you might be back.

A couple of weeks ago we were doing the Rossini cat thingy. I like the Gerald Moore Homage with De Los Angeles and Schwarzkopf. You certainly could have provided some brilliant alternatives but none with the same sense of moment.

ct,

I know. Just as I knew about the FFP/Rituxan protocol for well over a year before my doctor brought it up. The circumstances finally were right for pursuing it.

After my first protocol tanked... I learned more and more each year how to research with some objectivity, concentrating first on the process described, the pros and the cons, etc.

Everything in health care is a risk for a patient. The size of the risk is relative to each patient's illness, character and finances.

jamie,

I've known that "doc" since he was a 15 year old heavily muscled wrestler going to Horace Mann. He lived on the eighth floor, we were on the eleventh.

Good guy then and now. When he got a show NBC put a lot into (that never yielded much -- his history on TV) his co-star was Steve Landesberg... who I'd sit with in temple. So I walked him up the street and introduced them. That worked as Mark needed a showbiz rabbi like Steve. (He had started out of college in the then strangely admired Naked Angels troupe which was more famous for its parties than its plays.)

Flatus... thanks.

Now... do you use bit torrent?

No 9/11, I've never tried any of the P2P things--probably out of a sense of maintaining my moral authority over the kids in the family :)

Phil Bronstein complaining the press has too cozy a relationship with Obama.
Oy vey..he's only realizing that now?????

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/bronstein/detail?entry_id=41380&tsp=1

Hi 9/11

Hey Flatus
No offense to you the other day. Some fartistes are artists!

Mama had three choices, a drug that was a DDT derivitive that would kill her adrenal glands, she had many of those with the metastasis. If she chose that she would have been completely immune deficient.

Choice two was a conventional chemo agent, not designed for her type of cancer. Choice three was nada. She chose nada and I agreed. She outlived all experimental/control groups in any studies. The Cancer hospital didn't care to study how she did after choosing nada.

Of course she had me. Even when under Hospice care and getting no medical assessment/tests, I could use my blood glucose monitor, Bp cuff and my excellent assessment skills to determine what she needed and when she needed it. Lots of circulating cortisone and other adrenal steroids did have it's own set of problems, ie hypertension, low potassium and high blood sugar etc. I kept all in check.

She ate like a pig and I did lots of cooking. She loved her food. I adjusted her insulin to the meal. She lived a quality life while here. When she finally got to where she couldn't eat, she checked out. That took only a day. It was a sad yet wonderful experience to spend that time with her.

Steve Landesburg's impression of a Japanese comedian in Tokyo acknowleging an american in the audience:

"Ahhhhhh........Round-Eye..........."

ct,

That is the best possible life after such a diagnosis -- and with such a facility.

Strange how a blessing emerges among people who love each other... and one who refuses to turn helpless.

I'll add something I already mentioned earlier and many times prior to this --

Kefir has helped rebalance the steroid deranged levels of my blood glucose and blood pressure. It's done it before and it's doing it now.

Kombucha's good, too.

But the kefir is remarkable.

Mom gave me a nurse's kit the day I was born and then again on every gift giving occasion after that. I was brainwashed. When I got to college and was aksed what I wanted to study I said nursing, I guess. Mom was preparing for the day she would need me. It worked.

ct,

I'm copying all your posts and saving 'em.

Thank you very, very much for these.

"Mom was preparing for the day she would need me. It worked. "

good planning on her part!

old car pictures:

http://charutinho85.blogspot.com/

Any time 911. You're quite a guy. You are a guy, huh? I don't know you as well as the rest here.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/all-the-worlds-a-high-school-s.html#comment-234399

"It was a sad yet wonderful experience to spend that time with her."
Carol
Thanks for sharing.I sure can relate having taken care of my mom during her 4 and half year cancer battle...Your a real gem!!

Thanks Tony, those are times we will never regret.

Carol
By the way maybe I never told you but my mom's name was Carol and I think of her every time you post!! Carol Ann that was my moms name..I also think of her when Patsi posts because my mom spent her summers in Nashville staying with her aunt and going to the Grand Ole Opry...Oh and Patsi she loved Carl Smith,June Carter's first husband...

http://charutinho85.blogspot.com/

I really enjoyed looking through those pictures, Sturg.

Strange but I think my mom's finest moments of her life was in her dying. She was a trooper with her cancer and she died with dignity. It might have been Elizabeth Kubler Ross who said something like, it is only in dying that we finally learn to live.

"Thanks Tony, those are times we will never regret."

Your right i have no regrets! I did what I wanted to do.I still though really block my mom out of my mind because I just see her on her death bed..I kept her home but she fell and broke her hip and I had to take her to the hospital.Sad but she only made it one day after that..It was time though as the cancer had went to her liver..Only 62....

Tony -- I also love Carl Smith...love his voice plus...he was a Hottie!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usTmyOj3_zs&feature=PlayList&p=E69A31B52824EF71&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=8

"strange but I think my mom's finest moments of her life was in her dying. She was a trooper with her cancer and she died with dignity"

Same with my mom.I can't recall any complaining my mom did,I do recall my mom saying to me how sorry she was that I had to care for her and her mother my grandmother and have it take all of my life up..I told her it was just fine with me and thanks to GM I didn't have to work due to my 24 yr pension...

Kubler-Ross has a great little book(2000) she co-authored with David Kessler titled "Life Lessons. You probably can find it in a used bookstore for a few bucks. It's worth reading. She has written a lot on death and dying.

Hey Tony, stop thinking of your mom on her death bed. She's only thirty something now. That is what Silvia Browne says. We go to heaven and we are back in our thirties. That was a pretty good age, not too young, not too old.

Some thoughts on the Middle East

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6116 Hamas replies to Obama’s speech as his envoys demands an immediate peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis.

Echoing last night’s post: “The victory is being welcomed in Washington as a major boost for the Obama administration's strategies in the Middle East. U.S. officials have said in recent days that Lebanon traditionally serves as a bellwether for identifying wider trends across the region.

The push back of Hezbollah is seen as providing President Barack Obama more diplomatic space to pursue his high-profile Arab-Israeli peace initiative. It could also lend Mr. Obama more time to pursue his diplomatic outreach toward Tehran.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124435522488991801.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Obama has amplified factors that help tip the scale in Lebanon, though it is remarkable he is pressing for an immediate negation to a final peace agreement between Israel and Palestinians as Ahmadinejad pressed Hamas into violence who now teams up with other militant wings including AQ. (see first link above) Doesn’t Israel face the same terror as Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen and Pakistan? How is this scourge different from what Israel is facing? Will Ahmadinejad order Hizb’Allah into action against Israel or a coup in Lebanon? It is not like Ahmadinejad doesn’t hear Iranians laughing at the results of Quds meddling. In fact, the US made Iran safer by toppling the Sunni Saddam and ousting the Sunni Taliban. Thank you Mr. Bush, you did more than the Mullahs did!
Make no mistake however; Iran has developed a far broader range of strategic assets and military capability given the asymmetric and unrestricted warfare it espouses. They did use chemical weapons in their war with Iraq and that decision was made when Ahmadinejad’s opponent was in charge of Quds.

Here is an excerpt from the debate between Ahmadinejad and Moussavi

http://ncr-iran.org/content/view/6453/1/

Ahmadinejad has a point in his attacks. Moussavi has trouble identifying how Ahmadinejad has lost Iranian dignity because on particular policy, Moussavi is afraid to go against the very clerics he accuses lead Ahmadinejad. He is afraid to mention Hizb’Allah or Hamas, the nuclear programs or the activities in Iraq. He doesn't even explain Buchenwald to Ahmadinejad.

My best hopes for the two journalists in North Korea.

Another book I would recommend for those with cancer is "Love, Medicine and Miracles: Lessons Learned About Self-Healing from a Surgeon's Experience with Exceptional Patients" by Bernie S. Siegel.

Now you've got me fantasizing about what age I'd go back to if I had the chance. I had to look up Slyvia Brown, and the site that took me to had a link to her twitter. I'm like you and don't read twitter, but her's is kinda like going to a fortune teller....or at least little words of inspiration. I may bookmark it.
http://twitter.com/Sylvia_Browne

ps Where's your buddy Solar tonight. Did you hurt his feelings with the dillo stuff?

Chloe, Solar's probably thinking up some more trouble he can get us in. He set us up with that last one but only Bethy fell for it.

He's around Chloe, I can smell his phermones lurking.

Sorry I misspelled Sylvia's name but you found her anyway. As you already know I can't spell worth a flip. And I also have problems with my grammar/punctuation.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/all-the-worlds-a-high-school-s.html#comment-234415

Patsi
Oh Thanks! My mom actually got to know to know Carl and June and even was invited to their house for a fan gathering in Nashville at the time.I gave them to my sister but my mom had so many black and white photo's taken of the Opry Stars at the time(1955-1958)..Many of Carl and June..

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/all-the-worlds-a-high-school-s.html#comment-234418

Ha Carol
How Wonderful! I hope that's she's correct...I remember my mom in her thirties and I will give it a try...

Chlo-

"Where's your buddy Solar tonight."

If your are talking about being Carols buddy. You have that part right: The other part that goes with that saying. With a friend like that who needs enemy's. HA!

Just got cought up on reading today's post's. After reading them. It is an honor that Carol considers me a buddy. The same goes for all of the people here that think of me that way:

As far as all this dillo talk is concerned. Im innocent. Innocent I tell ya!. The use of circumstantial evidence has been used to frame me. There is not an once of truth. I would say that someone was getting the wrong vibrations about those dillos. They should be left alone.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/all-the-worlds-a-high-school-s.html#comment-234429

I'll write it again..YOU FUNNY!!!!

Told ya Chloe, he was close by. Carol knows.

Im a good boy. But when Im going to be bad. I promise to be good at being bad.

Carol-

I just took a peek at those orbs that you ( pictures) that you sent me. The loving way that you took care of your mother. Fits in with it. Thank you for you story about her. Tony the same for you. You all are special.!!

I think most of us girls did fall for Solar's dillo trick but no one but Bethy would admit it. Now Ivy did say no but then she did mention another little error she made. And I just want to tell Ivy, there are no accidents sista.

9/11 - How wonderful to see you back here! Your humor is great and so is your strength. You're really
vibrant! Who cares who takes you to the hospital as long as you get there !!!!!!!! Stay with us!

I think that '57 Tbird two-seater is the most beautiful car, but those old timers have a lot going for them, basically elegance.

Solar - really? Did you start that word just to get someone to comment on it? Was everybody thinking that way???? Oh, well, I've fallen for a lot of stuff in my life. No big whup. Actually, I think the problem was that so many jokes and images kept coming to mind
that I had to de-sensitize something!

Yes, Carol knows all!
And yes Solar, Carol is special. But we already knew that.

Remember Carol, You already told me how you do it. You just look into those lyin' eyes, and then you see the truth.

Evening all. Back from Tampa and Miami wasn't even painful. Thank goodness for first class upgrades.

If we're having such a recession how come the planes are so full? Kids on Saturday and Ecuadorians and Peruvians today.

How was the airfare Don? Good price?

Here you go city girl...

Eagles - Lyin' Eyes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU1DcAzVMCc

Hey Chloe, once you get being able to read inmates down, reading everyone else is a breeze.

Ok. Since I want this stuff over with. Bethy. That is a no. And a yes. The first time that I used it. I was by chance. The other times. I use it as often as I could. It became the all American-Armadillo.

It took about two weeks for any to come clean about it. Ok I have my hand out. Get the ruler out.

I laughed my ass off once thinking about all those dillos just floating in the swimming pool: Tony resolved the problem. He put in gravel. Now no more dillos.

I was thinking about that Carol, what you deal with on a daily basis. I couldn't do it. What's really admirable is that you treat them like they're important, just like everyone else.

I guess you really learn to see through the BS. Believe it or not Carol, I think I was born being able to do that. I don't show it that much, but I'm not a very trusting person.

Carol, Psychology is my strongest subject.

"Get the ruler out."

You don't have a thing to worry about Solar. I'm sure there are NO nuns here. :)

It's OK Solar, we forgive ya. So you bring out something in us that we try to hide. That naughty little girl. Actually I was a little surprised by the Alabama southern belle Ivy admitting her little mistake.

Listen Chloe, darling, you can't trust a one of them. Just treat them with respect and expect the same from them. It usually works.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/all-the-worlds-a-high-school-s.html#comment-234426

It's funny about the going back to the 30s. I've always said that I no longer have birthdays. I just celebrate anniversaries of 36.

Good answer, Solar. Thanks. I think I've become a little lazy at not noticing double entendres, since nobody here seems to be on the lookout. I am now, though!

Got to readm Stephen Colbert's edition of Newweek - it's pretty interesting, and mostly quite serious. God, the man's funny. Gotta make sure to see him from Iraq this week.

And if you are working with an ass, wear a mask!

"Just treat them with respect and expect the same from them. "

I know Carol.

"I just celebrate anniversaries of 36."

Jamie, I think that's the age I would pick. 35, 36, something like that.

Jamie, you will do well in heaven. You've got it down.

Free Carol. I used to fly all over the world with the sales and marketing departments after I helped develop a product so I have all kinds of miles. It's taken me 4 years to use most of them.

I know they've cut back a lot of flights. I was surprised by all the kids flying though.

Looks like Solar's having a ball tonight.

Solar just got to this party Don. He was late.

The one that I was afraid of was Patsi. She once told me. In your dreams about something else. I was afraid that she would catch on:

Carol- You had me peeing in my pants last night. Talking to Bethy-Bethy ( last night) thanks for being a good sport.

Don-

Glad that you had a safe trip. Now I can see how is it-that you talk about so many places-so many experiences. You must know all of the Nurses-scratch that. All of the Stewardesses by name.

Back from the Iron Works.

The Plot thickens , .............
Film at 11. It was an " oven " downtown today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzwQdpTa8qY#

And what's new there Solar?

That was when I was at my fighting weight Solar. Now I look like all the guys I used to make fun of.

I will certainly not go with any moss gathered about me. Wouldn't change a thing though.

And speaking of me and the women, how did you get to be such a special center of attention?

Was it cooking corn yet Bob?

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/all-the-worlds-a-high-school-s.html#comment-234461

In Texas, All you'd have to do is lay it on the sidewalk.
Curling up with my book. Thanks for the fun everybody.

... forget that sidewalk idea. There'd be flies and fire ants all over it.

Don-

Not really-just made some play on a word-that took a while for the gals to catch-that's all. I had a lot of fun-cos it took a while for them to admit it. Now I'm in the dog house for a while-sorta speak. I think that it will be a while before they let me out:

Don, you'd have to be a hot tamale to understand son.

Early bugle tomorrow-sleep well.

Night shift is here and the evening shift has to go to bed.

Solar - you have to understand I saw it the first time I read it and decided to make a comment the second time I read it, but kept forgetting to say anything. ( I usually end every post and then think of something I meant to say or ask.)

I'm glad you enjoyed it, but don't see the kick. Did all you other women see it and just not say anything?

Bethy

Taking a last peek. It really wasn't planned-it just turned out that way. There was no kick about the actual word or anything like that. The kick- was last nights laughing about it.

I do not understand , but I'm glad you got a kick out of it.
Laughter is the best medicine, right?

I shot 25 mins. of stuff today on bending metal .................. Is this too much ?

-------------------------------
" Yes, Bob that's way too much, now you have to chop it into smaller parts that our attention span shortened world can digest. "

" Plus nobody gives a shit about sheet metal on a political blog you ass - hole, what the fuck is wrong with you " ?
--------------------------

There, ...... I said so you don't have to.

Oh God, I'm insulting myself.

Whoa, Solar,

Back off those hyphens or you're going to lose them. They are like pepper: use sparingly.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/06/all-the-worlds-a-high-school-s.html#comment-234474

Bob.......sometimes if you want something done right you have to do it yourself, eh?

but can you make a solar oven which can play "Mustang Sally"?

"She once told me. In your dreams about something else. I was afraid that she would catch on"

LMAO. I saw it and decided to take a pass for the time being.

C-Bob's having fun with himself today.

Craig, good observation.

tt