TKR

I spared you viewing the actual surgery footage!

I was told in 2008 that I needed to have a TKR- Total Knee Replacement surgery, & have literally limped along  until now.  This knee is toast & probably the reason I put it off, was because I'd had the other knee replaced in 2005- so I know firsthand just how difficult the surgery & recovery are.
Don't be fooled by this prozac voiced announcer- this is a major invasive surgery w lots of heavy carpentry (sawing, cutting, hammering)- it hurts like hell & has a huge stitch line.
But I hit the wall w pain & there is no denying the bone on bone experience.

 I'm going in for a major tune up.
Also a future disclaimer for typos or incoherent  pain med induced posts in the near future.
You have to take heavy duty pain meds to get through the post op therapy sessions.

Wish me luck!

Fiore funnies

The discrimination cookie crumbles....

Here is the menu campus republicans are serving up at the University of California Berkley:

Local station KGO reports:

They've developed a sliding scale where the price of the cookie or brownie depends on your gender and the color of your skin.

During the sale, scheduled for Tuesday, baked goods will be sold at prices according to ethnicity & gender 

"The pricing structure is there to bring attention, to cause people to get a little upset," Campus Republican President Shawn Lewis, who planned the event, told CNN-affiliate KGO. "But it's really there to cause people to think more critically about what this kind of policy would do in university admissions."

Lewis says it's a way to make a statement about pending legislation that would let the California universities consider race or national origin during the admission process.

But the young Republicans have been on the receiving end of a fierce backlash. Reaction has been so negative they've been forced to cancel their customary lunchtime tabling duties."

I'm guessing the campus republicans have not a clue what it is like to live in poverty. Wish they could go live on an Indian reservation, or on the other side of the tracks in a predominantly Black or Latino impoverished neighborhood. When you live in poverty, there is no way to afford college. People  are already working a few jobs just to make ends meet. 

 Here is a glimpse of tuition costs for UC Berkley 2011-2012. 

Average Student Budget 2011-2012* Living on Campus Living off Campus Living at Home Registration & Fees** $ 13,392 $ 13,392 $ 13,392 Housing & utilities 14,060 7,324 2,472 Food 930 2,572 1,670 Books and supplies 1,202 1,202 1,202 Personal expenses 1,388 1,698 1,914 Transportation 594 906 1,776 Total $ 31,566 $ 27,094 $ 22,426 *Estimated budget; subject to change. See the Registrar website  for more details. **Non-resident tuition and fees add $22,878. An additional fee is charged for selected residence halls. Health insurance fee of $1,626 is included in student budget, but may be waived if proof of adequate coverage is presented.

Here is another thing the campus republicans need to consider:

People who have higher educations, generally wind up with higher paying jobs, and therefore contribute back to the community more.  If you leave people without higher education, and they remain in poverty, it is more of a strain on the community.  Since republicans are so hell bent on not paying taxes, allowing poor people to get a break, and an education will ease their perceived tax burden. If they can break away from the I*me*mine mentality for just a moment, they just might realize that the greater good of family wage jobs, happy, healthy people is a sound investment. 

What would they prefer? Only wealthy white people attend college, so they can build more prisons?

Having a college age kid myself, believe me when I say they scrutinize the tuition/financials big time. If there happens to be an oober wealthy family in any gender or race, they will not get financial aid or breaks. 

The NY Times reports:

Two-thirds of bachelor’s degree recipients graduated with debt in 2008, compared with less than half in 1993. Last year, (2010) graduates who took out loans left college with an average of $24,000 in debt. 

We know that there’s some scarring to cohorts who graduate in bad economies, and this is the mother of bad economies.”

This is a prime example of the a party of no mindset. The rich white kids sniveling because they don't get special breaks those struggling might get. 

Reminds me of this quote: 

Those who want to throw the burning coal of resentment, wind up burning their own hand. 

Forget no new taxes, NO TAXES!!!

 Bachmann opened her yap w/o thinking again, and made this statement @ the debate:
"I think you earned every dollar. You should get to keep every dollar that you earn. That's your money. that's not the government's money. That's the whole point," Rep. Michele Bachmann said at the FOX News debate.

So does Bachmann go on to call for a repeal of federal income tax?

"Obviously, we have to give money back to the government so we can run the government, ..."

Wow! She can run the country on $15,000,000,000,000  (that's $15 trillion) debt.
She's either A: A magician

Or B. : Full of hot air. 

Equal rights for Palestine

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday that Israeli settlements block the way to a two-state solution, during his address to the UN General Assembly.


"My people desire to exercise their right to enjoy a normal life like the rest of humanity," Abbas said.
"We aspire for and seek a greater and more effective role for the United Nations in working to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in our region that ensures the inalienable, legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people," said Abbas, who was greeted with a long round of applause as he took the rostrum.


"I do not believe that anyone with a shred of conscience can reject our application for a full membership in the United Nations and our admission as an independent state," Abbas told the U.N. General Assembly, which gave him a standing ovation.


Apparently, the U.S. lacks that shred of consciousness


U.S. President Barack Obama, echoed these sentiments in a meeting with Abbas in a meeting on Wednesday, saying that UN action would not achieve a Palestinian state and the United States would veto any Security Council move to recognize Palestinian statehood, the White House said.


Nobel Peace Prize recipient Obama said:
 "Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the U.N.," President Barack Obama said in a speech to delegates at the General Assembly on Thursday. "If it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now."


Maybe he should give back his peace prize? Coming to the international organization asking to be fully recognized as a state is a peaceful gesture, and the avenue in which to have the worldwide discussion. Does President Obama think the old method of violence & strife is the preferred method?


Voice of America:
Hundreds of Palestinians protested Mr. Obama's speech in the West Bank towns of Ramallah and Nablus on Thursday, holding anti-Obama signs and accusing him of being biased toward Israel.

But in a show of support for the Palestinians, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for international pressure on Israel to make peace with the Palestinians.  Erdogan said Israeli leaders "must see that real security is only possible by building real peace." He said Israel has continually flouted U.N. authority."

The N.Y. Times reports:

"The Security Council will likely take up the issue in earnest next week, diplomats said, when the question becomes whether the United States and its allies can stall it. Washington is also working to prevent the Palestinians from gathering the nine votes needed for it to pass in the full council and thus avoid further wrecking the image of the United States in the Middle East by casting yet another veto against something Arabs want.

The final vote is not expected to take place for more than a month.

Among the 15 members, some are expected to stay solidly in the Palestinian camp including Russia, China, Lebanon, South Africa, India and Brazil. The United States is a solid vote against, and the five European members—Britain, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal and Germany—are all question marks. The positions of Colombia, Nigeria and Gabon are also not entirely clear.

The African Union supports membership, but it is not entirely clear if Gabon and Nigeria will go along. President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria did not mention the issue in his speech to the General Assembly, unlike many leaders from the developing world who support Palestine, and the statement by President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, was somewhat enigmatic. He said he hoped to soon see a Palestinian state, but noted that both the Palestinians and the people of Israel are friends of Gabon.

In Europe, Germany tends to lean against, its relations with Israel always overshadowed by the legacy of World War II. France leans the other way, while Britain sits on the fence. Portugal and Bosnia have been close to the Palestinians and the Arab world in the past, but their support is not assured this time around.

But after every war, the United Nations resolutions and indeed the peace treaties with other Arab states have all reaffirmed the resolutions that outline the two-state compromise, starting with General Assembly resolution 181 in 1947. In the annex of their membership application submitted to Mr. Ban today, the Palestinians listed every United Nations resolution that envisioned a two-state solution that has not been implemented, they said."


64 years later, the two-state compromise is not yet resolved. 

Click your heels 3 times...

What would you wish for if you had the magic of Dorothy's ruby slippers?

The real ruby slippers from 'The Wizard of Oz' for sale

The actual ruby slippers Judy Garland clicked together to send her character Dorothy back to Kansas in "The Wizard of Oz" are to be auctioned off in December.

Replicas and stunt shoes have been sold off in the past, but now bosses at California auction house Profiles in History have acquired the most famous footwear in Hollywood.

The slippers will be the highlight lot at the three-day Icons of Hollywood auction, which will take place December 15-17.

A spokeswoman for the auction house says, "There are four pairs of screen-used ruby slippers known to have survived the 70 years since the making of 'The Wizard of Oz.' One pair is the centre piece of the Icons of American Culture exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and is one of the most asked about artifacts at the museum.

"So viewed are these slippers that the carpet in front of them has had to be replaced numerous times due to the crush of shoes that have brought visitors from all over the world to see their glimmer.

"Another pair was unfortunately stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and will likely never be recovered. The third pair is in private hands and will not be reaching the market any time soon.

"The final fourth pair up for auction are marked on the inside lining '#7 Judy Garland' and the leather soles are painted red on the bottom. The lack of felt, in addition to light, circular scuffs evident on the soles indicate their use in the extra-close-up or insert shots when Judy Garland taps her heels together at the film's climax.

"Their condition is near mint and it is also believed that this beauty pair was placed on the protruding feet of the Wicked Witch of the East after she was squashed by Dorothy's house since they exhibit slightly higher heels and the bottoms of the shoes were exposed to the camera. This pair has exhibited at the Smithsonian."

Freedom!!!!

Release ends two-year ordeal

Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer are out of prison, Iran's state-run Press TV reports.

University of Outlaws

On a local level the University of Oregon has a code of ethics for students, but not for athletes, apparently. The fricking QB can't put together a sentence if his life depended on it.

Thomas said he was not with Harris in Portland the evening before the traffic stop in the early morning hours of June 12. Thomas called Harris for a ride back to Eugene but said Harris was not driving when Thomas fell asleep in the car.


“I woke up, the police was right at the window talking about it,” Thomas said. 
“That’s all the facts I know.


“I found out we was speeding when the police told us.”

Yea right! We was born yesterday!
So a football team player was driving 118 miles an hour with a suspended license.
And they were smoking pot.
And it was the 6th offense & the driver had over $6000 in fines.

Even the damned sheriff, said he smelled pot & asked the football players- said they smoked it all & had no more. Instead of checking it out, the Sheriff asked to see the college football players Championship ring! (The local paper got a FOIA request to have the traffic stop film/tape released)

Even the head coach, after this incident, fails to run drug tests, after the Sheriff Officer is mesmerized into wanting to see the shiny ring.

Quite the story.

QB Thomas don't know nothin'
The Sheriff forgets how to  investigate a speeding vehicle @ more than 2x the speed limit, that reeks of marijuana.
The coach drops the ball on any drug testing.
Harris gets a 1 game suspension.

Because it's all about the franchise.
The profits.
The stats.
The winning.

What if this Harris player fails to pay the fine he owes for a few years now & they issue a warrant for his arrest in the middle of a damned game?

That might make it on to ESPN.

So now we have editorials in the local paper like this:

I can’t watch much pro sports. I’ve always wondered how anyone could cheer for a baseball or football team of manufactured humans, pretending that those biceps were the result of a lot of weight reps and ignoring scandal after scandal. The current gangster mentality of the NBA is depressing.

So that left me to cheer for my alma mater, the Ducks.
But now, I have to follow both the sports section and the police log to keep up with the team.

It’s become hard to be a proud alum.

I’m starting to pine for the old days. I think I’d rather watch the Ducks lose a game than cheer for a team of spoiled criminals. I’m not sure what Phil Knight feels he’s getting out of this pathetic situation, but maybe it’s time he threw in the towel and moved his money 30 miles north for a do-over.

MARTIN KENNEDY

North Eugene High School 1976; University of Oregon 1981, 1986

Okotoks, Alberta, Canada

And:

I'll be taking a trip soon . I plan on driving on the I-5 freeway at 118 miles per hour & smoking pot. I'm so glad I don't have to worry about that, since those things are allowed in Oregon by law officials. 

Oh wait! I am not a Duck football player! I'm going to jail.

The Enabler:

Oregon Coach Chip Kelly has agreed to a six-year, $20.5-million contract extension that makes him the Pacific 10 Conference's second-highest-paid coach.

The new deal guarantees Kelly a minimum of $2.4 million this season and could be worth more if Oregon reaches certain performance incentives.


Personally, I don't care if the team wins or loses, I care if they are required to be decent neighbors in the greater community. 
Because if the Oregon Athletics department continues to turn a blind eye to criminal behavior, one wonders what it will take for them to realize the depth of the problem. 
Does Cliff Harris have to slam into a busload of prized athletes @ 118 MPH on the freeway, under the influence,  before the U of O (O is for outlaws) athletics department realizes it's irresponsibility?


A one game suspension is a slap on the hand. 
Why not just make a giant banner saying the Student Conduct Code does not apply to athletes?

Apparently, when they say the Oregon Ducks Football team is 'smokin'

they literally mean it. 

Attention Americans - You won't all be rich tomorrow

 This is from an article called "Attention Americans - You won't all be rich tomorrow" 



I am convinced that when President Obama mentions raising taxes on “the wealthiest Americans,” everyone thinks he is talking about them. I’m sure of it. I suppose I should be surprised, but when citizens admonish politicians to “Keep the government out of [their] Medicare,” I guess anything’s possible (like, say, an audience applauding the mere mention that Rick Perry has presided over more state-run executions than any governor in modern times).




 Perhaps folks are thinking, “Well, my taxes might not go up now, since I’m making the median income, but my wages are going to quintuple any day now, I just know it. And when they do, I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay one more plug nickel in taxes. I also need to protect the loopholes for corporate jet owners, as I’ll surely soon be one.” Folks, can we have a reality check here? Pull out your most recent IRS Form 1040 and see exactly where you stand and whether or not you’re among the “wealthiest Americans” to which Obama has been referring. There is no doubt that some of you are, but I am equally sure that the vast majority of you are not, even if TBP may draw a somewhat higher income cohort. (As I read the comments to my recent post on the Census release (having already almost completed this post), I guess what I’m trying to say is summed up by Dogfish, who paraphrases Taibbi’s Griftopia: “”…tea party types like Joe the Plumber identify with the rich because they think “they are one clogged toilet away from being millionaires.”" News flash: they’re not.)


CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

ARTICLE HAS CHARTS & GRAPHS & LOTS OF GREAT INFO!

Tea Party Death Panels?

At the Republican Debate, Tea Party members shouted out 

that a man in a coma with no health insurance should die.

To infinity & beyond....

Toy Story fans can now affix the Buzz Lightyear stamp on their mail. 

But what seems to be headed towards "To Infinity & Beyond" (Buzz's signature pre recorded phrase)

 is the debt the Postal Service is racking up. 

$10 billion in the red is no small chunk of change. Part of their problem is a mandate now convicted felon Tom Delay had a hand in- requiring the Postal Service to have pension $ paid ahead by 75 years. 

That accounts for $5 billion of Postal Service Budget blues. The other part is dwindling use of "snail mail" in general. E mail & faxes have become the method of choice for quick delivery. If one must physically send something, places like Fed X & UPS have done a better job of tracking & delivering, for the most part.  The postal service is now faced with shutting down many branch offices, and having to cut back 1 day a week delivery. Too bad they were not proactive about it a few years ago, when revenues were down, and gas prices soared.  Now it looks like they will have to do both- office closures & reduced delivery.  Still, at our house, we think about 80% of what we get in the mail is "junk" ads & things we don't want or need. As far as we are concerned, not having mail delivered on Saturday would be just fine. Our neighbors to the north, Canada has been doing 5 x a week mail delivery - business days  only, for 41 years. Canada Post eliminated Saturday mail delivery across the country on Feb 1, 1969. 

Frankly, I don't think we'd really miss Saturday mail deliveries. 

Otherwise, the postal service, with ever decreasing revenues, 

and gas prices skyrocketing, will hit the wall. 

Wall-E

Ode to 9-11

Blue or Red States of mind

Actions speak louder than words

The colors and labels matter not

Masks and illusions

We see through them to the truth

Has this nation achieved revenge?

What kind of justification 

to kill more of your own people & innocents

to react to the initial vile act?

Worthy Nobel Peace Prize recipient

 made this declaration:

Through violence you may murder the hater, 

                               but you do not murder hate. 

In fact, violence merely increases hate. 

No mission has been accomplished

Bankrupt morally and financially

We accept 10 years of wars

as if they were not to be questioned

A decade later, we still have no answer

What is the Noble Cause?

• English 'Peace on Earth'
• Arabic 'As-Salaam'
• Chinese 'Huh Ping'
• Dove of Peace
• Sanscrit 'Shanti'
• Russian 'Mir'
• Hebrew 'Shalom'
• Latin 'Pax'
• Rainbow Peace Sign

Koch Brothers~ The Evil Thing

A week of MLK jr. #4 Speak up

If we want things to change, we need to put effort into making the changes happen. I'll be the first to admit, I suffered from extreme burn out in those 8 long G.W. Bush as president years. I did all the things they say to do, write letters to government, took to the streets in mass protest, supported those who chose civil obedience, and were arrested in protest. All of it fell on deaf ears. Furthermore, the Bush 2 administration kept coming up with new and more offensive atrocities, people could barely have time to react to one thing, before some other human right violation had occurred. 

People were suffering from serious fatigue. 

A regime change in the United States held some promise of serious change and a new direction. 3 years into that presidency, only a small percentage of voters feel the new administration is doing an adequate job. We are financially in ruins, but the war budgets remain the priority.

I can't whitewash that fact, because of partisanship. If something is wrong, it is wrong, regardless of  political affiliation. The previous administration was not held accountable for it's human rights violations, and the new administration has chosen to perpetuate the wars. 

A week of MLK jr. #3 Worthy Peace Prize recipient

Excerpts from Dr. Martin Luther King jr's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:

I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. "And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid." I still believe that We Shall overcome!

I  think Alfred Nobel would know what I mean when I say that I accept this award in the spirit of a curator of some precious heirloom which he holds in trust for its true owners - all those to whom beauty is truth and truth beauty - and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-acceptance.html

A week of MLK jr. #2 What is right?

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position
that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular;
but one must take it because it is right.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

A week of MLK jr. #1 Labor

This week I am focusing on various speeches MLK gave, on many topics.
May as well start with Labor, on Labor day.

New economic patterning through automation is dissolving the jobs of workers in some of the nation's basic industries. This is to me a catastrophe. We are neither technologically advanced nor socially enlightened if we witness this disaster for tens of thousands without finding a solution. And by a solution, I mean a real and genuine alternative, providing the same living standards which were swept away by a force called progress, but which for some is destruction. The society that performs miracles with machinery has the capacity to make some miracles for men—if it values men as highly as it values machines.

UAW 25th Anniversary dinner, April 27, 1961

When there is massive unemployment in the black community, it is called a social problem. But when there is massive unemployment in the white community, it is called a Depression.

We look around every day and we see thousands and millions of people making inadequate wages. Not only do they work in our hospitals, they work in our hotels, they work in our laundries, they work in domestic service, they find themselves underemployed. You see, no labor is really menial unless you're not getting adequate wages. People are always talking about menial labor. But if you're getting a good (wage) as I know that through some unions they've brought it up...that isn't menial labor. What makes it menial is the income, the wages.

Local 1199 Salute to Freedom, March 1968

You are demanding that this city will respect the dignity of labor. So often we overlook the work and the significance of those who are not in professional jobs, of those who are not in the so-called big jobs. But let me say to you tonight that whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity and it has worth.

AFSCME Memphis Sanitation Strike, April 3, 1968

A Spineless Citation for Obama

Click here to read the article:
Obama backs off tough clean air regulation

I did not care so much about the scrapping over the date for the joint address session, regarding employment, other than to think this is a rookie move. It's the 21st century. Coordinate dates without it being a public display.
Neither the president or the speaker of the house have staff that handles scheduling?
Did that need to be headline news?
Things are so bad, they have to have a partisan showdown just to schedule a joint session address date?

But backing off on clean air regulations, Obama can just go ahead & join the GOP in their stampede to trash the planet.
I heard the question posed last night on PBS
"What is it that Obama stands for?"

On every topic of importance, he seems to not have a bottom line. On health care, on the Debt discussion, on eternal wars, and now on the environment. Obama is constantly willing to abandon ship,  cave, and not really having any topic where he draws the line. He comes across as ineffectual. Unable to lead. There seems to be a lack of ethics on these topics. The longer he is president, the more it is clear he is either floundering, or simply stuck in this mode of pandering to the GOP.
Progressive he is not.
Leading, he is not.

I don't blame the economy on him, but the continuation of war, and lackluster delivery on promises made, are his to own.  Even the fact that FEMA is running out of money fast, and the fact we dump billions down the toilet of wars, much of it still under the direction of G. W. Bush's war staff. The hurricane season is not over, besides the fact we've had super tornadoes, California is again immersed in wildfires, and the clean up from Hurricane Irene will easily take up the remaining FEMA funding.
To me, the decision between funding endless wars in the Middle East, or providing full funding for disaster relief on the homefront, is a clear & easy choice.

 I am painfully aware that the change I had hoped for in electing Obama, is not going to arrive.

This latest announcement about backing down regarding clean air regulations, is starting to feel like the straw that broke the camel's back. Obama caves on yet another thing.  So now it is both literally & figuratively that I am not breathing easier with Obama as president.


"The White House is siding with corporate polluters over the American people," Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement. "Our public officials, including in the White House, serve to protect us from harm. They need to get on with doing their jobs."

The administration's "final decision not to enact a more protective ozone health standard is jeopardizing the health of millions of American, which is inexcusable," Charles Connor, head of the American Lung Association, said in a statement.

Ground-level ozone, similar to smog, is created by the burring of fossil fuels. The compound is linked to respiratory disease and thousands of premature deaths each year.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, increasing the standard would save 4,300 lives per year, prevent 7,000 hospital visits and avoid 2.6 million missed days of work or school."

The agency predicts that a higher standard would cost $25 billion per year, but yield $37 billion in benefits, like eliminating those missed work days.

As part of a law passed late last year, the Bush-era tax cuts for the richest Americans were extended for two years. The estimated cost to the government of that portion of the tax deal is $42 billion this fiscal year.