New addition to the family

We've recently been blessed with a new member of the family. One day, while watching the show "Too Cute" on Animal Planet we saw a dog breed we'd never even heard of, but immediately fell in love with: the Havanese. After doing some research, we decided to get one. She's a beautiful 2 pound, eight week old dynamo. She's fit right in already and seems smart as a whip. We look forward to watching her grow.

Part of the official definition of the breed mentions that their expressions are "mischievous rather than cute.". Nothing could be more true.

Low carb update

I've lost close to 40 pounds since Jan 2! My LDL ( bad cholesterol) has gone from 170 to 86 and my triglycerides went from 201 to 120! Blood pressure stays below 110/80! My acid reflux is completely gone. Without medication.

Everybody needs to read Gary Taubes book "Why we get fat." It's an eye opener.

Low carb dieting

I'm starting a low carb diet for my new years resolution. I'm using the Atkins book as a guide. If you've never actually tried it, I would encourage you to actually read his book. I have found that, without exception, people who criticize the diet have never actually read the book. It's not all bacon and eggs (although that is one of the best parts...I LOVE bacon). Tons of vegetables and protein on the diet.

He has a pretty convincing argument that our modern lifestyle of over-abundant, highly-refined, low-nutrient high-carb lifestyle is killing us. People are eating a low fat, high carb diet in record numbers, yet America is getting fatter and fatter. We just weren't designed to eat foods that nearly instantly turn to sugar in our bodies.

4 days into the diet, and I am having absolutely no acid reflux (I've completely stopped my heartburn meds). I have no headaches. Have already lost some weight (which Dr Atkins freely admits is initially partly water weight). But for the first time in years, I was able to pass up the donuts at work this morning without even a second thought.

Again, let me stress that you should read the book before you criticize him. Even if you don't start his eating plan, you'll learn a lot about nutrition.

Things we should all agree on

1. Mapquest direction should begin on step #4. I'm pretty sure I already know how to get out of my own neighborhood.

2. Everyone should boycott movie & television technology beyond Blueray. I'm sick and tired of having to purchase all my movies again and again.

3. US citizens should adopt the afternoon siesta.

4. Don't tell your doctor that you have a "high pain tolerance." We all automatically know you are a wuss at that point.

5. When asking your doctor for pain meds, don't request them by their street names (i.e. "hydros")

6. Texting while driving should be a capital offense. Or at least life imprisonment spent breaking big boulders into pea gravel.

7. Dogs are man's best friend. Cats would be happy to claw out your eyes.

8. MTV should be required to show at least 3 music videos a day.

9. Opinions are not like a$$holes or belly buttons. I've seen people who don't have a navel or an anus.

10. Broadcasting fishing or bowling on TV should be limited to prison televisions.

This day in history

On January 4, 1903, Thomas Edison electrocuted Topsy the elephant, in an attempt to demonstrate how AC current was too dangerous to use for our country's power grid. It was actually caught on film.

Despite this gruesome display, Edison's Direct Current electricity grid just didn't have the oomph to power our growing country. Tesla's AC system won out in the end. Edison was a genius, for sure; but this example of poor judgement shows he was all to human as well.

Health care rationing

As Thomas Sowell has eloquently put it, general economics is not a zero sum game. Just because person X makes more money, that doesn't mean person Y has to lose a proportionate amount.

However, government controlled health care will indeed be zero-sum. Since it's actually impossible for government to create wealth, and their only way to actually get more money is to raise taxes, there is only a finite amount of money that can be budgeted towards health care. So they will soon have to make decisions for the "public good." This will mean that once you reach the end of your usefulness to the government, they will no longer provide access to medical care.

In other words, your elderly grandmother will be denied dialysis based on government actuary tables.

It's the only way they can control costs. Which, lets be honest, is the only reason big government Looters want socialized medicine. They don't care if you live longer & healthier. They certainly don't care if a physician practice is more efficient. In fact, the earlier you die, the less you cost. Can you say "Logan's Run?" Or "Soylent Green is people!!!?

Fall is here!

It finally seems that fall is here! High temps in the 70s, lows in the 50's. For a few weeks, the weather will be perfect! And miracles of miracles, the Detroit Lions are 3-0!

Kelo vs city of New London, update

Remember the Supreme Court case, Kelo v the City of New London? Where the Supreme Court ruled that it was legal for the government to steal your private property if they thought they might get to make money off of it?

Well, 6 years have gone by, and Ms Kelo's house is now officially the city dump. Seems that the government's greedy plans fell through, and Pfizer never built their mega-complex; thus no windfall tax profits for the Looters of New London. BUT, Ms Kelo still lost her private property. Private property is essentially what the Revolutionary War was about.

I hope that the ACLU would support a new case. Kelo v Supreme Court. Maybe Kelo v New London & Pfizer, as well. Seems she deserves some restitution, no?

The soul of a man

"The soul of a man, left to it's own natural level, is a potentially lucid crystal left in darkness. It is perfect in its own nature, but it lacks something that it can only receive from outside and above itself. But when the light shines on it, it becomes in a manner transformed into light and seems to lose its nature in the splendor of a higher nature, the nature of the light that is in it."-- Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain

The Future of America

This was emailed to me. No author was given. Welcome to...the Twilight Zone

Thanksgiving 2022

"Winston, come into the dining room, it's time to eat," Julia yelled to her husband.



"In a minute, honey, it's a tie score," he answered.


Actually Winston wasn't very interested in the traditional holiday football game between Detroit and Washington.



Ever since the government passed the Civility in Sports Statute of 2017, outlawing tackle football for its "unseemly violence" and the "bad example it sets for the rest of the world", Winston was far less of a football fan than he used to be.

Two-hand touch wasn't nearly as exciting.Yet it wasn't the game that Winston was uninterested in.



It was more the thought of eating another Tofu Turkey. Even though it was the best type of VeggieMeat available after the government revised the American Anti-Obesity Act of 2018, adding fowl to the list of federally-forbidden foods, (which already included potatoes, cranberry sauce, and mincemeat pie), it wasn't anything like real turkey.

And ever since the government officially changed the name of "Thanksgiving Day" to "A National Day of Atonement" in 2020, to officially acknowledge the Pilgrims' historically brutal treatment of Native Americans, the holiday had lost a lot of its luster.

Eating in the dining room was also a bit daunting. The unearthly gleam of government-mandated CFL light bulbs made the Tofu Turkey look even weirder than it actually was, and the room was always cold.

Ever since Congress passed the Power Conservation Act of 2016, mandating all thermostats - which were monitored and controlled by the electric company - be kept at 68 degrees, every room on the north side of the house was barely tolerable throughout the entire winter.

Still, it was good getting together with family. Or at least most of the family.

Winston missed his mother, who passed on in October, when she had used up her legal allotment of life-saving medical treatment.

He had had many heated conversations with the
Regional Health Consortium, spawned when the private insurance market finally went bankrupt, and everyone was forced into the government health care program.

And though he demanded she be kept on her treatment, it was a futile effort.

"The RHC's resources are limited", explained the
government bureaucrat Winston spoke with on the phone. "Your mother received all the benefits to which she was entitled. I'm sorry for your loss."

Ed couldn't make it either. He had forgotten to plug in his electric car last night, the only kind available after the Anti-Fossil Fuel Bill of 2021 outlawed the use of the combustion engines - for everyone but government officials.

The fifty mile round trip was about ten miles too far, and Ed didn't want to spend a frosty night on the road somewhere between here and there.

Thankfully, Winston's brother, John, and his wife were flying in.

Winston made sure that the dining room chairs had extra cushions for the occasion.

No one complained more than John about the pain of sitting down so soon after the government-mandated cavity searches at airports, which severely aggravated his hemorrhoids.

Ever since a terrorist successfully smuggled a cavity bomb onto a jetliner, the TSA told Americans the added "inconvenience" was an "absolute necessity" in order to stay "one step ahead of the terrorists."

Winston's own body had grown accustomed to such probing ever since the government expanded their scope to just about anywhere a crowd gathered, via Anti-Profiling Act of 2022.

That law made it a crime to single out any group or individual for "unequal scrutiny," even when probable cause was involved.

Thus, cavity searches at malls, train stations, bus depots, etc., etc., had become almost routine.



Almost.

The Supreme Court is reviewing the statute, but most Americans expect a Court composed of six progressives and three conservatives to leave the law intact.

"A living Constitution is extremely flexible", said the Court's eldest member, Elena Kagan. "Europe has had laws like this one for years. We should learn from their example", she added.

Winston's thoughts turned to his own children.
He got along fairly well with his 12-year-old daughter, Brittany, mostly because she ignored him. Winston had long ago surrendered to the idea that she could text anyone at any time, even during Atonement Dinner.

Their only real confrontation had occurred when he limited her to 50,000 texts a month, explaining that was all he could afford.

She whined for a week, but got over it.

His 16-year-old son, Jason, was another matter altogether. Perhaps it was the constant bombarding he got in public school that global warming, the bird flu, terrorism, or any of a number of other calamities were "just around the corner", but Jason had developed a kind of nihilistic attitude that ranged between simmering surliness and outright hostility.

It didn't help that Jason had reported his father to the police for smoking a cigarette in the house, an act made criminal by the Smoking Control Statute of 2018, which outlawed smoking anywhere within 500 feet of another human being.

Winston paid the $5,000 fine, which might have been considered excessive before the American dollar became virtually worthless as a result of QE13.

The latest round of quantitative easing the federal government initiated was, once again, to "spur economic growth."

This time, they promised to push unemployment below its years-long rate of 18%, but Winston was not particularly hopeful.

Yet the family had a lot for which to be thankful, Winston thought, before remembering it was a Day of Atonement.

At least, he had his memories.

He felt a twinge of sadness when he realized his children would never know what life was like in the Good Old Days, long before government promises to make life "fair for everyone" realized their full potential.

Winston, like so many of his fellow Americans, never realized how much things could change when they didn't happen all at once, but little by little, so people could get used to them.

He wondered what might have happened if the public had stood up while there was still time, maybe back around 2011, when all the real nonsense began.

"Maybe we wouldn't be where we are today if we'd just said 'enough is enough' when we had the chance," he thought.





Maybe so, Winston. Maybe so.

Forgive me for repeating myself.

I bought my first Kindle in 2008. It was the 1st generation. I loved it. Bought tons of e-books. My wife loved the fact that I wasn't taking up any more book shelf real estate.

I recently purchaced the 3rd gen Kindle, which I think is much better than the first version. Thinner, lighter, better contrast, faster response time, longer battery life, etc.

However, today I think I've seen what will kill the e-book readers. I was going to get a book that was reviewed in the Our Sunday Visitor. Went to Amazon's website, and they were asking $16.50 for the fricken' kindle edition! What the heck?

For just a few dollars more I could get a "like-new" hardback. That I can touch, smell and lend to a friend. Why should I pay that much money for 1's and 0's?

I know the publishers threatened to sue Amazon and are now the ones who set the e-book prices. But it costs the publisher's next to nothing to sell me the e-book, after it's been converted (once!). No paper to buy. No hard board for covers. No glue.

Kindle Book Prices too High now

I realize Amazon has lost control of pricing now, and that it's up to publishers to set the prices. But this is outrageous. Once the book is in electronic format, there is little to no cost to the publisher to let me download a book. I just looked at a book that Amazon was selling for $16.50!!! For a few 0's and 1's. No paper pages. No hardback binding. No shipping packaging.

I wrote a review of my first kindle back in 2008. I now have a 3rd generation Kindle, which I think is even better. But I doubt I'll ever buy another one.

It's one thing to get an e-book for significant savings, but when I can hold a real book for just a few more bucks, I'll take the real thing.

Rain, rain go away, come again another day

Man, will it ever stop raining? My back yard is like a swamp. I think we're gonna need a bigger boat.

May 1st, in history

On May 1st, throughout recorded history several important things have happened.

1. Adolf Hitler declared dead, 1945

2. Osama bin Laden shot & killed by US Navy SEALS, 2011

3. Blessed Pope John Paul II beatified, 2011.

Wonder what else happened on this date.

Gas Prices

Gas prices seem to be going up, up, up! And our president doesn't seem to care. When, at a presidential photo op, asked by a man what the President was going to do about gas prices, President Obama just laughed and said " if you're getting eight miles a gallon you may want to think about a trade-in.."

Once again showing how out of touch he is with real Americans.

They guy is having trouble buying gas, and the president just laughs it off. How does Mr Obama know what this guy drives? Maybe he already has a Prius or a Nissan Leaf? What kind of mileage does the presidential limo get? I know, he needs the protection. But still, don't make a joke out of something that is hurting most Americans who actually have to pay for what they need.

This sounds to me like a Marie Antoinette moment (let them eat cake...)

WikiLeaks

I'm torn by all this WikiLeaks controversy.

On one hand, the libertarian in me supports what they've done. I don't trust big government, whether it's Dubya or Barry. The thing that's kept this country great for so long is that our government leaders aren't deities, and we can reign them in by shining some light on their slime mold plans and schemes.

On the other hand, I can see how leaks of top secret government documents, especially military related plans, can endanger the lives of our young men and women in the Armed Forces. If my son were to be killed in, say Kandahar, and plans related to his units movements were plastered on the web, I'd want Julian Assange's head on a platter.

Just because one CAN do something doesn't mean one SHOULD do it...

I knew I liked sourdough for a reason

Turns out that plain, old-fashioned sourdough bread is healthier than whole wheat. According to the University of Guleph, in Ontario, Canada, people who eat sourdough bread have the lowest spikes in blood sugar, as compared to those eating white or even (shocker) whole wheat bread.

So I guess this makes Sourdough the Miller Lite of the bread world! (great taste, less filling!)

Vitamin D testing

Nary a day goes by when I don't read about how Americans are low in Vitamin D, and that "everybody" should get tested. (As a society, we get enough Vitamin D in our diets and by multivitamins to prevent Rickets, but still have sub-optimal levels).

Well, here's the truth about being tested for Vitamin D:

1. The testing is really expensive. From $50-$150, depending on the lab.

2. Most insurance plans don't pay for it, unless you have a proven low level of Vitamin D. How are you gonna know if you have low Vitamin D, if you don't know your Vitamin D level? (truth be told, odds are you are low. Just about everybody is.)

3. Vitamin D supplements are DIRT CHEAP. Everybody can afford it OTC. We're talking pennies a day.

So, instead of paying to check your level, just take 2000 units of Vitamin D3 every day, and get 15-20 minutes of sunlight daily.

Sourdough heaven

I've been experimenting with various sourdough bread recipes lately, and I've had some moderate success. Google the term "sourdough bread starter" and, surprise, surprise, you'll get a billion different sites. After spending several hours, and being told by my wife that I was obsessed, I narrowed the sites down to just a few.

Making sourdough bread is surprisingly simple, but to create your own starter takes some time. Following this method took me about 7 full days to get a starter that was nice and frothy. The only thing I did different was use King Arthur unbleached, unbromated bread flour. I didn't use any whole wheat flour.

On to the baking. There were several good recipies ( here, and here and here). But I settled on a video series I found on YouTube, by Chef Mike.

I haven't yet gotten the timing down just right, especially since my work schedule varies so much. Sometimes I'm ready to bake at noon, sometimes it's not until 10 pm! And, for some unexplained reason, my starter seemed to die after the 3rd loaf. Instead of throwing it away, I just added flour and water, waited 12 hours and threw away 1/2 of it and re-added flour and water, and 48 hours later my started was exploding again. Go figure.

Physician suicide

The New York Times published a disturbing article on Oct 7, 2010. It seems that physicians commit suicide at a much higher rate than the general population.

Most physicians are very driven people, having this deep, spiritual need to succeed. We were able to be at the top of our class in high school and college. And then we got thrown in a room full of over-acheivers, and life became a bit harder for most. Then we had to compete for residency positions, many of which only accepted you if you made all "A's" in med school.

Then there's residency, where long hours with little sleep (at least until recently!!!!) combined to wear us down. Some of us then still had to complete for that special fellowship.

Then private practice, where we suddenly had to pay bills, which we never did before. Our expenses continue to go up, but our reimbursement from Medicare and insurance companies goes down every year. We pull out our hair dealing with insurance companies' ever-changing regulations, forms, phone calls, etc. On top of that, our patients don't respect us like they did "in the good old days" (if those ever really existed). They are demanding, angry, don't want to pay their co-pays or keep follow up appointments; they want free care over the phone, internet, email, etc.

On top of that, there are those patients who we truly care about, but get worse or die anyway, despite us doing everything we can. After they pass, Duey Cheatem and Howe, Esq, send us the legal summons telling us what idiots we are for obviously missing the lawsuit-disease-of-the-month.

Most of us don't have the luxury of paid vacation or sick time. So we work to pay the bills, even when most of our patients complain about needing work notes.

To make matters worse, if physicians do admit to depression or suicidal thoughts, they are branded as "impaired physicians" for the rest of their lives. This makes it harder to get appointments to hospitals and insurance plans. Some could even lose their license to practice medicine.

This can weight down our souls, often times so much we miss the good times. The patient who thanks us for caring or helping. The little old lady who brings us cookies. The widower who thanks us for helping him get thru his grief afer his wife died. The child at the grocery store who yells "Hey, Doc!".


Stop right now, and say a prayer for your physician.