October 5, 2014

Trauma surgeon on CNN is mad as Hell...

"CDC asleep at the wheel"

He reminds me of me.

October 4, 2014

Ebola: I'm dumbfounded...

Okay, forget Ebola just for one moment if you can. Let's talk about communicable diseases of the generic variety here in the United States: so what do we have here? Colds, various flus, childhood diseases, parasitic worms, head lice, you know, all the stuff you deal with on a daily basis if you work in an office, eat in a restaurant, go to school, associate with friends, ride public transportation, shop. Except for absolute pathological recluses, this is virtually everyone in the US of A. None of us enjoy getting any of these diseases or the conditions which are manifest after their contraction, but they certainly are widespread. Vaccines have helped in many respects, unless you're an anti-Vaxxer, but then what can you say? Your children pay the penalties, you get to pontificate as to what an ethical purist you are while your kid has whooping cough in the other room. But I digress.

So…why are these viruses and bacteria so prevalent? Bad hand washing, food preparation, toilet habits certainly contribute as do interpersonal behaviors such as affection and affection-leading-to-sex. Droplets everywhere! Pathogens galore!

So again, in theory we can trace who these people work with, who they cavort with, and who they may contact in a store. But what if…the infected, symptomatic individual takes a bus, is standing and holding a pole, and sneezes on the pole and associated structures? The next person at the next stop reaches over, grabs the pole and is now infected by any definition. How is that going to be tracked? It isn't…and if the person who is next infected is, say, a daycare worker, who cannot afford to miss a day from work due to a low-grade fever, then maybe four or five or ten people may then be infected. And so it goes. Just hypothesizing.

So this is within the realm of possibility. To deny that it is is, IMHO, foolish. Yes, this particular disease is harder to 'catch' in some respects, but just as easy in others. The jury is out.

September 30, 2014

Ebola and American Exceptionalism:

I just watched a Press Conference and this is what I have learned from it: As Americans, we cannot contract the ebola virus in its present form since we have the best healthcare in the world and we can track infected individuals and exposure because. We are very very safe because we are Americans. The patient is in extreme isolation in Dallas, Texas, home of the assassination of JFK and co-originators of the S&L Crisis, and thus we know that there can be no errors of judgement made because. The fact that this individual demonstrated symptoms of the virus for four days prior to his isolation is utterly irrelevant because he only came into contact with his family members and we know that this is true because. There is nothing to see here so just keep moving please. No worries. We are Americans and we are immune from this African Disease.
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Do you know where I last heard claptrap expressed in this manner? When I was a young clinician and the CDC and all the so-called Health Experts discussed GRID: Gay-Related Immune Disorder, since there was absolutely no evidence that the agent infected heterosexual individuals. Same tone of voice, same surety. We are just SO SPECIAL, are we not?

As my grandmother of blessed memory used to say loudly, "UH-HUH...!"

September 17, 2014

This horror occurred 20 yards from my dental office:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140917_Gay-bashers_apparently_dined_at_upscale_eatery_before_assault.html





A GROUP OF well-dressed college-age men and women apparently dined at an upscale Center City restaurant Thursday night before some of them brutally assaulted two gay men on the sidewalk just two blocks away.

Internet sleuths yesterday joined Philadelphia police and reward-givers in a hunt for the group of clean-cut twentysomethings linked to the shocking assault.

The chase heated up after cops released video of about a dozen white men and women wanted for questioning in the attack on the two men, ages 27 and 28.

That attack, at 10:45 p.m. Thursday on Chancellor Street near 16th, took place in front of stunned onlookers and sent the couple, together for six years, to Hahnemann University Hospital with bruises and, for one of them, severe facial fractures.

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More at the link They caught 'em. Bastards.

August 2, 2014

I am going to take my leave from DU for a time:

Many of you will shout, "Hurrah", since you despise my pro-Israel stand that Hamas must be rooted out and destroyed. Nothing you may say will change my attitude in this regard and nothing I may say will certainly change yours.

However, I am not acting for that reason at all whatsoever. There are two distinct attitudes here which are, in my opinion, reprehensible. The first is the constant juxtaposition of Israel with the Nazi Movement and their behaviors. I have many angry feelings which I cannot express here due to the nature of those who alert at the first sign of a so-called breach of the rules here at DU. It has become impermissible to discuss any higher-order political philosophy without this occurring as a result. Those of us who have been attempting to do this are being continuously goaded into vituperative arguments which almost invariably lead to a "crossing of the line" such that a Jury will lock the post and thus place one more black mark upon the poster's ability to remain and function. This is deliberate, vindictive, and as far as I am concerned, absolutely derived from RW techniques for disruption, denigration, and elimination of rational discussion. Further, I believe that this manner of posting has grotesquely undermined the stability of this site and may cause many long-term people to abandon it for this issue as well as several others. It is, or rather, was, insidious in its evolution but is now moving ahead as the political season approaches.

Second, and more importantly, this has become an outlet for some of the worst anti-Semitism I have seen in many years. The code-words, the hatred spewing towards established members, the rank dismissal and disgust with which opinions are met rivals any forum with which I have had contact for the 45+ years in which I have been active in Jewish causes. Like pornography, I know it when I see it. The taunting of many to specifically accuse someone of anti-Semitism is an invitation to having a post locked or even Tombstoning and since I have been here for more than ten years, I am not at this time willing to have my posting privileges revoked over this issue here, since it is not a discussion but has metamorphosed into an entity of which I am not proud any longer to be a member. There are many people who agree with me who decline to post during these difficult times in Israel for exactly these reasons - and this is nothing new. I value the Forum for its values during the election seasons and during domestic crises, but will not subscribe to this aspect of its nature and will refrain from posting until such time as I believe that it is constructive to do so.

July 16, 2014

Is anyone else watching the All Star Game?

I cannot believe the nature of the narrative ongoing. It is indescribable. Horrifying. It IS Fox but WOW! It is like nothing I've ever heard in athletics.

July 14, 2014

So there is likely to be an Egyptian-mediated cease-fire -

so says the Jerusalem Post.

http://www.jpost.com/?Mobileid=1

So much for all the posts about Israel not wanting or intending to stop the bombing, etc. There are ALWAYS negotiations going on despite what some here posit, and it is infinitely more complex than what it seems to be but hey! who would know better than some around here, right?

One of the conditions is that Hamas removes its rockets and support materiel from Gaza, but we shall see what happens. I would say that within six months it starts all over again.

July 6, 2014

More Jewish expansion! WTF! Is it legal?

http://www.philly.com/philly/classifieds/real_estate/20140706_Rodeph_Shalom_synagogue_plans_expansion.html

Apparently the courts have decided that the new Settlement is legal.

July 1, 2014

My New Religion: Dentistrism

My religion has certain basic tenets:

1. There is one and only one God.
2. God is infallible.
3. If God wanted you to be well, He would not have made you sick as part of his Plan.
4. Therefore, I do not believe that we should have to pay for medical treatment for our employees. Of course they are free to pay for their hospital stays, transplants, nursing care, pharmaceuticals, and other associated costs. We do not infringe on anyone's rights as individuals.
5. The above applies to all medicine with the exception of Dentistry: teeth and supporting structures being a God-given attribute which need to be maintained in order to promulgate His teachings to the fullest and maintain a sanctified existence.
6. Lastly, we can screw other people who are not our spouses with impunity, watch pornography in order to better educate ourselves to its deleterious effects, and own automatic weapons, bazookas, and tanks in order to better defend ourselves from the heathen masses.

June 30, 2014

Just sayin': Three Kidnapped Israeli teens murdered

You could hear a fucking pin drop here.