Remember When?

My dad was in the hospital with his aortic aneurysm and my step-
monster and I were practically coming to blows as I insisted on
staying there with him around the clock and questioning each med
and order that came in?

And she kept saying, Why do you ask so many questions? The
doctors and nurses KNOW what they are doing... Right. Sure.

Read THIS story for just how well they KNOW what they are do-
ing. Statistically, every American going into the hospital has a
number of mistakes per day made with their meds, care etc.
I can't remember the exact number but I'm sure its online
somewhere. Typically though, the mistakes just aren't life-
threatening.

And moreover? I have a few IQ points on a lot of the medical staff.
Plus - every time your nursing staff changes? Do you really think
they take the time to read your entire previous chart in hospital?

Let me just answer that for you. No. They don't. They try to
catch up on your current condition and basic history and current
orders. Try is the operative word here.

But back to the story. Three separate nurses FAILED to notice,
or noticing, failed to question, that the normal heplock given to
at risk preemies was in a dark blue topped vial labeled heparin
instead of a baby-blue vial labeled hep-lock.

See, the IV ports have to be kept open with a teeny amount of
blood thinner. Not, of course, the gargantuan amount of blood
thinner one would give to say -- an adult suffering from a
pulmonary embolism. So those little preemies bled to death.

So me? Stepmother or not, I'm going to keep right on bitching
and asking questions while in the hospital. Both on behalf of
myself and my relatives.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I can't believe I've resorted to blogging about past American
Idols, but there you have it. Here goes:

Apparently ---> Clay Aiken Deserves Some Respect


Actually, Clay Aiken seems like a niceish sort of guy but...

Yeah, you knew the but was coming right?
I'd have more respect for him if he just said to the "gay question"
one of three things, and truthfully mind you.
1) yes
2) no
3) none of your bleeping business, next person to ask me gets a
hatchet to the head.

Secondly, is there some moral high ground to taking paxil but NOT
going to therapy along with it? Since when is it somehow "holier"
to go it on your own rather than get very good psychotherapy or
counseling? PARTICULARLY if you are experiencing something
that could really be helped via psychotherapy, like anxiety at-
tacks? Or would you just prefer to pop paxil the remainder of
your life and live with your panic attacks? I wasn't aware that
attendance at counseling sessions was such a shameful thing in
the first place, so I just find his position on this topic odd
in this regard. But... Whatever. To each their own and all
of that rot.

Anyway, yes yes, nice guy, beautiful voice, I just wish he wasn't
so namby pamby sometimes. But then again, I'm probably just not
taking into account his sensitivity.

He is gay after all.

STOP THE PRESSES!!!

I AGREE WITH THE W ON SOMETHING!

WHAT!!!???

This can only mean that the shrubster is going insane. I mean,
we already know that I'm insane. Ergo --- See?

Kind of it was only a matter of time though. We ARE both
from Texas. Well, he's at least as much from Texas as I am.

But the Baby Bush had a press conference yesterday and in it
he said something akin to the following (I'm going to paraphrase
of course because my brain is far from being memorex about
anything anyone says (unless, of course, they happen to be dat-
ing me at the time. Then, I'm lethal.)

Anyway, W said that he was in opposition to the 700 mile long
fence that would separate us from Mexico because what we real-
ly need is a piece of legislation that presents a comprehensive so-
lution to the illegal immigration problem. (no shit, he said the
word comprehensive.)

He said that Mexicans come here temporarily to work and they
do jobs that Americans do not want to do and that also, some of
them, some 10-11 million of them in fact, are living here with
their families and have had children here and that to suddenly
just construct a fence and to try to find and throw out 10-11 mil-
lion people from just ONE country with no guest worker program
in place is a little how shall we say, ambitious? foolhardy? silly?
STUPID? Doesn't make much sense?

He didn't even get into what I think and what I feel he knows are
the even larger questions of, how would you fund it? What about
the illegal aliens from Canada, Armenia, Yugoslavia and all of the
other countries who number in the millions themselves? Why
are we picking out one country? What of the cost of manu-
factured goods when we "throw out" the people who are making
things for us (like chicken for example) for $8 an hour when we
can't get our own folks to work for that price. And hey, if you can
find folks to do that, send them to Georgia and Alabama, we could
use the labor.

Boycott Max Factor

Not that I use their tacky cosmetics anyway, but... apparently
SOMEONE has been spreading the cash around because for
SOME reason our "own," oh wait, our own? are we really sure
about that? ostensibly our United States Marshalls (or people
dressed just like them) have arrested Duane "Dog" Chapman,
the bounty hunter who went to Mexico in 2003 to arrest Max
Factor heir Andrew Luster.

Many of you may remember this story, which is rather infa-
mous in the annals of "true crime" lore. Luster had, at the
time, been arrested and was in the midst of a rather lurid trial
on charges that he had, over a period of time, drugged several
young women and then filmed himself whilst raping them in his
home. Since he taped the encounters, he literally handed the
state the evidence against him.

Several of the young women were teenagers during the time
that the crimes occurred. Most had no idea that they had been
violated until word of the case's investigation leaked into the
press and they were contacted by the police and the D.A. and
they were both horrified and traumatized to find both that they
had been assaulted and that it had been captured for posterity
by Luster.

As I recall, Luster maintained a fairly arrogant and smarmy at-
titude during the trial but as the victims testified and the video
tapes were played he could see the reactions of complete disgust
on jurors faces as it became obvious to just what extent he had
damaged the girls. One morning defense counsel came to court
and his client did not show, having fled to Mexico.

Mexican authorities did not seem to be able to help the U.S. auth-
orities to locate Andrew Luster, but the trial continued in his ab-
sence, and he was sentenced to 124 years behind bars.

A manhunt ensued, a serious one. Nobody wanted an Ira Einhorn
type of deal where we waited years for justice.

Enter "THE DOG."

Apparently, although nobody in Mexico knew where Luster
was, our own Duane Chapman, longtime bounty hunter dubbed
"The DOG" for short, had received a tip and had a good lead on
Luster's . And he was just the the right man for the job. An ex-
con himself, Chapman had gone straight and was putting his
knowledge to good use. He was willing to help give people a
fresh start, a second chance - but he could also use his own
knowledge gained on the inside and from hunting down other
inmates to help him find Luster.

The Mexican government, it would appear, was not so happy
to have the DOG's help:

STORY HERE

Well gee whiz. Had Luster been a citizen of MEXICO, the Mexi-
can authorities might have a bit of a better case but hello, he is
a US citizen. He is now back here, where he belongs, IN JAIL.
For a LONG time.

Can't imagine George W. is allowing our US Marshalls to be used
for this purpose, but then again, I can't imagine why he does a lot
of things.

And WHY cooperate with Mexico in arresting someone for bring-
ing back one of our own citizens for the prosecution of a crime he
committed here in the United States? If Scott Peterson had made
it across would have just kissed him goodbye and bid him adieu?
Has our government just gone just completely insane? That was
a rhetorical question just in case anyone was wondering.

Yesterday we found out that we DIDN'T fire on armed insur-
gents for some reason that nobody I know (liberal or conserva-
tive) can quite comprehend even though we could have done
with no loss of life to our own troops or collateral damage to ci
ties or daycares or the like.

Now today, we find out that we've arrested one of our own citi-
zens at the behest of another country so that we can EXTRA-
DITE him to that other (other meaning you know, "foreign")
country so that they can prosecute him for kidnapping one our
citizens. Oh, and by kidnapping I do actually mean retrieving
that citizen from the foreign country and bringing him back to
the United States for the lawful imprisonment for the heinous
crime of which he was legally convicted under United States
law. Guy should get a medal.

P.S. Yes I KNOW. The "DOG" and his ensemble are a little,
well... But anyway. Love 'em. Can't help it. I'm addicted.

Syd's Weekend Film Pick

Loved this film. Under the guise of a documentary, this black co-
medy:

Mail Order Bride

Is so exceptionally well-made that it took me 3/4 of the the film
to realize that it was not, indeed, an actual documentary. Very,
very coy and funny film.

Oh Man

Do you ever just do something really stupid because you're trying
to do something good? But you KNOW at the time that you're
probably being stupid, but you just have no idea until later just
HOW stupid you really were? Yeah. Story of my life. But I'm go-
ing to stop. At least by say... New Year's or so. I'll make it my re-
solution or something.

Agitators

Or as Rodney King might have aptly put it at one point in time...
"Can't we just all get along?"

No but seriously, this is a trend that I've noticed and it disturbs
me. It causes me to question the moral decay and cruelty that ap-
pears to run rampant among more individuals that I'd care to be-
lieve could possibly allow themselves to think and to behave in
this manner. I listen to it on radio shows, see it on chat boards
and talk shows, and in general it just causes me extreme wonder
and, well, dismay.

Or perhaps I'm wrong and I'm just a patsy, a dope who doesn't
"get 'IT'" myself. Perhaps it is all about holding to a certain line
of demarcation come hell or high water. No compassion for your
neighbor and no consideration for what they may or may not
have to go through. Sometimes I feel as though I am incorrect
in my own weakness and these others who seem so sure of them-
selves in their hate are strong.

One thing is certain though, I cannot change how I am. And more
frightening still is the fact that most probably, neither can they.

There are a number of things I do not understand in this world.
I'll begin.

When someone dies, regardless of how you feel about the manner
of their death or whether or not they may have contributed to it in
the manner in which they chose to live their life (extreme sports,
chasing wild animals for the pure love of conservation and nature),
the aftermath of the death is NOT the time to criticize the indivi-
dual, in front of his or her family and friends for safety standards
in which you feel they should have been more observant. No, in-
deed the time is to reach out and comfort the survivors and re-
member that person for the good he or she did.

I bring you the following boards for an example of some of the
hideous things that have been said following Steve Irwin's (The
Croc Guy's) death.

Steve Irwin

It even looks a bit better now because they've cleaned up many
of the worst posts with people saying, of all things, that they were
glad he was dead.

And then there is Ann Coulter. I don't understand why people
can't disagree about political parties with becoming so vehement-
ly hateful and without slinging the worst type of mud and hate back
and forth. If you have a difference of opinion with someone else over
how the country should be run, why must it be SO VICIOUS?

Ms. Coulter

And... I suppose that is all. For now.