This is kind of hard to believe, but Texas Republican (and all-around douchebag) John Cornyn has repudiated the attacks on Sonia Sotomayor by Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich. I guess the fact that there are an awful lot of Hispanics in Texas must not be lost on the good Senator. Let’s just hope the rest of the Republicans remain oblivious. They’re the party of angry white guys, and I think they ought to just run with that.
Dubya emerged from Dick Cheney’s bunker (I wonder if that means the Dickster will be going back into seclusion) to defend the use of torture, claiming it “saved lives” in a speech before 2,500 members the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan (in other words, all the people in Michigan that still have jobs). Bush even earned a standing ovation when asked what he’d like his legacy to be:
“Well, I hope it is this: The man showed up with a set of principles, and he was unwilling to compromise his soul for the sake of popularity,” he said.
Um, OK. Principles, yeah. When I think about Bush, “principles” is the first thing that come to mind. Now, tell us about the rabbits again, George.
I don’t know about where you guys are at, but here they’re still giving us daily updates on the Swine Flu cases in the county. We’re up to 18 now! :omg: It’s gonna be a long, long winter if they’re gonna report every time some kid gets the flu around here.
Today is Bob Hope’s birthday. Seeing as he was 100 when he died, he’d be really old today – 106, in fact. The other big birthday today, of course, is JFK. He’d be 92 today, if he was still around (though if he hadn’t been shot, he probably wouldn’t have lived much longer anyway).
Time to head on out. I Can’t wait to get this week over with, personally. I tweaked my neck somehow the other day, making it painful to sit and type, since I have to look at the keyboard (which sucks when you sit an type for a living), and damn near impossible to look to the left (which makes driving a little on the hazardous side).
The swine flu is much upon us in the city. There have been 4 deaths and lots of mild cases. Everyday different schools close but there is never a broad announcement of which schools are closed. Teachers and students sometimes find out when they get to school. Many schools remain open in spite of the number of absences. Yesterday the school in Brooklyn had 100 absent kids. That’s a 25% absentee rate when they average 3-4%. Some individual classes have have 50% and above rates.
Hand washing and hand sanitizers are ubiquitous in school…a great development. But, hand sanitizer in the stores is often sold out.
In the Bronx, the teachers face a dilemma. Keeping the windows open is a good idea, but the principal decided that the grates over the windows were unsightly and had them removed. Now the neighborhood pigeons regularly fly in. (Thank you Mayor Bloomie for all these bold administrators who aren’t afraid to follow their visions.)
The teacher who was in the hospital has returned to school.
There is little mention of swine flu on TV and usually none in the newspapers. I have 3 more working days and, hopefully, I will manage not to get the flu before summer vacation.
I think the runaway mom went to Disneyland to escape the swine flue. During his morning diaper change, Mat Lauer said her story was the most important news of the morning.
Good luck staying flu-free. One advantage living up here in the provinces is that we’re not packed together quite so tightly.
Though, per capita, our 18 cases is probably not far off what y’all have down there.
I’d say that we probably have more actual swine up here, but you folks have Juidi Ruliani, so you win.
I don’t know how to accept that Rudi-Judi win. Perhaps upchucking would be appropriate.
This is a long article in the New Yorker about the costs of medical care and the reasons costs are so high. But, here is the way that costs were successfully lowered and quality was raised:
(D)ecades ago Mayo recognized that the first thing it needed to do was eliminate the financial barriers. It pooled all the money the doctors and the hospital system received and began paying everyone a salary, so that the doctors’ goal in patient care couldn’t be increasing their income. Mayo promoted leaders who focussed first on what was best for patients, and then on how to make this financially possible.
Is it possible that the profit motive does not cure all ills?
The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c The Colbert Coalition’s Anti-Gay Marriage Ad
Sorry, that post got screwed up and I can’t fix it. 😳
“I don’t feel old. I don’t feel anything till noon. That’s when it’s time for my nap.”
O’Reilly explains gender politics:
I think that if I saw O’Reilly and Cheney together, I would need medical treatment.
Sen. Carl Levin:
Mr. Cheney has also claimed that the release of classified documents would prove his view that the techniques worked. But those classified documents say nothing about numbers of lives saved, nor do the documents connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of the abusive techniques. I hope that the documents are declassified so that people can judge for themselves what is fact and what is fiction
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/levin-cia-torture-documents-cheney-wants-dont-prove-squat/.
S and I are going to demonstrate in front of the state capitol for some of that Canadien Health-type care tomorrow http://www.healthcare-now.org/campaigns/may-30th-day-of-action/denver-co/
It’d be nice if there was some local news coverage but I’m sure all the available time will be taken up with covering the disfuntional couple on TLC with eight kids who’s lifes are ruined.