PCIntern
PCIntern's JournalA thought for a Sunday morning:
I have had a hard week. It was capped off yesterday by a woman upon whom I’m doing a very large dental case, who came in and told me that she can’t stand to watch Biden on TV, that he makes her physically ill, and that she did not watch the press conference but heard that he was incapacitated and mentally deficient. I was so tired of dealing with all the things I’ve had to deal with this week that I said not a word. There is no way I can possibly say anything That would alter her perception, she’s not here for political conversion I said to myself, so just don’t comment. Believe me, it took everything in my power to grit my teeth and just keep my mouth shut. Quite frankly, I’m getting to the point at this age where I can’t stand listening to this shit anymore, and if there were some underlying reason for me to retire if I could, which I can’t, it would be so I don’t have to talk to the assholes.
That being said, another thing I can’t stand dealing with is when one of these people comes in and says something about the good old days. I actually have a speech for them which goes something like this: you know, the good old days were not so good. If an ambulance pulled up in front of someone’s house, likely as not you never saw them again. If someone had a blockage around their heart, they died. If they had cancer that was not immediately locally resectable, they died. If they were in an automobile accident over 35 mph, there’s still a good chance of being killed even though the damage to the car may have been minimal. Women died in childbirth often, and things were so primitive that multiple births such as twins or triplets were a giant surprise to the physician and mother when discovered in the operating room in which they were giving birth. Men, by the way, were not permitted in the operating room when I was young. Medical syndromes were poorly understood, if at all, and children died routinely from inability to diagnose. If someone were allergic to penicillin and they were subject to say, chronic lung infections, they often eventually died if it progressed to pneumonia. Almost every suburban neighborhood had DDT sprayed daily or every other day during the summer to kill mosquitoes, and God only knows what effects this had upon us as we age. Where I lived the pollution from the Rohm & Haas chemical plant was so heavy that with the wind blew in a certain direction we could not go outside and play because it was overwhelming stench and there was no one to call, no appeal, and quite frankly nobody cared. The Amazing thing was that the parents of children who could not go outside we just shrugged their shoulders in resignation, and talk about how big business always had their way so no use complaining.
There were no consumer protections, if you bought a car that had multiple defects and was essentially unusable because it was constantly breaking down Continuously, tough beans to you. In my lifetime you could go to a shoe store and have your feet x-rayed many many times in the same visit in order to see if your shoes fit correctly. The exposure to not only the customers but the staff must have been enormous and I do not believe that anyone ever did a study showing premature death of shoe sales people but I would bet from that era there was a lot of cancer. It was like Madame Curie all over again. but you know what? Almost Nobody cared, or seemingly nobody. It took decades to begin to straighten all this out and here comes the right wing who want to send us back to the golden age of male landowners voting, second class citizenship for people Whom they feel are deserving of such, and street justice a.k.a. lynching as a form of extrajudicial punishment.
My mother , in 1929 at the age of 12, started smoking. She told me that even then they referred to cigarettes as coffin nails, but everyone assumed that something else was going to kill you first. There was a lady on our block who was 82 years old and everyone was in awe of her. Today’s equivalent would be 106. Most people assumed tgat even if they reached Social Security recipient age, that it would only be used for a very few years, if at all. Speaking of our block, there was a rumor going around in 1961 that the fellow who lived next door to us made.....-gasp- ten thousand dollars a year! I remember another neighbor said to my father, “if I made that much, I wouldn’t have to worry about anything for the rest of my life.” Such was life in those days.
But in fact you don’t have to look that far back for issues which would not present themselves today. When I was in training, we had in our kits boxes of rolled up asbestos which we used for casting metal crowns and inlays . There were fibers of this cancer-promoter all over the laboratories and in our lockers and on our clothes, and where I went to school there would be 165 of us in two rooms with low ceilings and no ventilation tearing or cutting the strips of asbestos. In addition, we used a material to make custom trays for dental impressions the monomer of which was the most vicious smelling solvent type liquid to this day I have ever smelled. It was definitely cancer-causing, and when I would leave lab both as a student and as a professor, every fold in my body arms legs and elsewhere, itched maddeningly because of the presence of this material in the air. I know this is anecdotal, but of the 165 in my class three have died or dying from pancreatic cancer, and we are only in our late 60s. God only knows what’s to come but needless to say, they don’t use that material anymore.
All of this constitutes the myth of America and it’s mythical exceptionalism. I am very tired as I stated at the outset of the assholes and I’m worn out from attempting to explain to them the simplest Concept or idea. If they don’t believe in the germ theory of disease, and thus refused to wear a mask, then what more can I do? Nothing. The fact of the matter is, these people believe in their hearts that the two greatest mistakes ever made in America were the freeing of the slaves and the constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote. They see America is going downhill from those points. The inherent hate and racism in this country runs very deep, and in fact the Civil War is apparently never-ending. The next five years will determine the fate of the Republic: whether it stands as a democratic state, or reverts to corporate feudalism run by tinhorn Mussolinis.
I would like to posit that
Al-Anon is Q-Anon’s brother
I believe this began as satire or a “dare” and, like the movement to clothe “naked” animals, it was supposed to be a joke and got out of hand. The perpetrators likely stared at each other in disbelief after it initially caught on and laughed and wondered how far could they go until people figured this out. It turned out that as with former President Shithead, there turned out to be no floor.
I must admit, wouldn’t it be fun jerking these assholes’ chain every day, and making them believe the weirdest shit imaginable? I can’t think of more exhilaration than that except for winning the lottery.
We could start a satirical forum here, coming up with the most outrageous theories as statements of fact. Given the intellect and creativity of DU members , the sky would be the limit.
Hey ! Today isn't a total loss:
I was doing some Googling of Ted Cruz and an ad popped up entitled:
“The Healthiest Way To Wipe Your Butt”
Now THAT’S an accurate target market entry!
Excuse #832 for the insurrection at the Capitol:
Background: the lady who proffered this to me yesterday comes from northeastern Pennsylvania business money. Her family owned a chain of now-defunct department stores so you get the idea.
I must admit I have not heard this one before and was so amused by it that I could not retort:
“So you see, the FBI is spending enormous amounts of time manpower and effort into finding these people who really should not have done what they did but the manpower and money would be better spent looking for people who perpetrated or even would perpetrate gun and even knife violence in this country and locking them away. Imagine if the FBI always worked this hard and could get rid of the real criminals in the society instead of these people who may have had a lapse of judgment for an afternoon.”
I must admit that this was so incredibly stupid coming from someone who is educated that I started to laugh. She asked me which part of this was so funny, and I referred her to Orwell’s 1984. She did not appreciate the reference to thought-crimes. I quietly said to her that invading the Nation’s Capitol is not a lapse of judgement but an attempt to violently overthrow a duly elected government which has serious personal implications including capital punishment and/or life in prison.
The perfect retort to a RW asshole who repeats
The BS from Faux or elsewhere about our guys and gals:
Just wait for them to finish and quietly say:
Hypocrisy is the Vaseline of political intercourse.
Wow! Had a delayed reaction to the vaccination yesterday:
It was interesting, everything was fine and I was going about my daily chores. I had to take a ride into Philadelphia from here which is about an hour and was completely uneventful. I was at my office doing a few things and all of a sudden it was like a wave broke over me. I don’t get sick often, perhaps once every five years or less, but I suddenly had terrible lassitude and fever which was almost 100°. I took a couple of aspirin which works best for me personally, and the fever sort of broke. After I did, I got back in my car drove back home and had absolutely no appetite or strength. I watched a little TV, toddled off to bed at about 830 and awakened at 12:30 with fever and the shakes. I took two more aspirin, went back to bed, felt the fever break and finally fell asleep around 3 o’clock.
I woke up at about 8:30 feeling fine, perfect in fact. I am virtually certain that it was from the vaccination because when I get a 24 hour flu bug I get many other symptoms which I did not have to endure this time. I’m just posting this so People know that the reaction to the vaccine may be highly variable, since I receive mine last Monday, and not to worry.
Oh yes....the Gates chip seems to be working fine. I keep accidentally typing Microsoft.com/accessories all of the time.
Sorry...couldn’t resist. It’s the after-effects of the...the...the Jewish Space Lasers! Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Republicans investigating Socks the Cat under Clinton
From Wikipedia:
Investigation
Representative Dan Burton, then the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, once publicly questioned the use of White House staff, postage, and stationery to answer mail addressed to the cat.
—————————
Nothing ever changes. But it does get worse...much worse.
It could only happen to me (Chapter 452):
The other day I went for my initial vaccination at the Philadelphia convention center where we have FEMA, the military, and the Philadelphia health department doing a fantastic job. I get there and I am ready for the ID check: my identification, my drivers license, shows that I live outside city limits but my dental license demonstrates that I am practicing within the county of Philadelphia, and thus according to health officials locally, I am permitted to receive a Philadelphia vaccine. I was greeted in a very friendly fashion by the marine at the door, who politely told me that I needed to speak with a supervisor to whom he escorted me with great courtesy. I spoke for a minute with the supervisor, who looked at my identification, stated to me that’s right you are eligible and escorted me into the facility.
It was amazingly crowded and yet Amazingly efficient as I wound my way through roped off corridors each containing three separate lines to get to the main event. I waited for just a few minutes in line at a table at which the marine stationed there checked my registration, my identification, and asked me the assigned questions which I answered exactly truthfully and appropriately. After a very short wait, I was brought to a table for my vaccination. Commanding the table was a Navy man who was of course well groomed, very polite, and earnest. I thanked him for doing this service, asked him if it was volunteer or assignment to which he replied that it was a combination of both and we both laughed. That was the last laughter for a few minutes.
The medic brought my name up on the screen, and he just stared and stared and stared. Finally, he said to me that he had to take care of a situation, that it was nothing crazy, and that he’d be right back. I watched him walk over to a table where a very tall commanding gentleman was stationed, and he spoke to him at length. Now the hairs on the back of my neck began to stiffen. They walked back together, both men stood in front of the Computer screen, and the big man turned to me and said that he was the nurse in charge of this section of the floor, and that the record shows that I had already been vaccinated. I reached into my wallet, pulled out my identification from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania showing that I was a licensed dentist and said I have not been vaccinated sir, my word of honor.
At this point, the supervisor signaled a lady to come over, he explained the situation to her, and she sat down at the keyboard. She turned to me and in a real officious snotty voice said sir this facility is for residents of Philadelphia only. Contrary to my instincts, I smiled, and reached into my wallet for my identification again which demonstrated that I was a dentist practicing within city limits, and stated assertively that I am entitled to a vaccine based upon this credential. She began to argue with me, and I said to her I understand, And I need your name because when I get back to my office I’m going to be calling the editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer who is a patient of mine, and ask that one of the columnists write this as a story for section B page 1. The supervisor broke in and said to her that in fact I was entitled to be vaccinated as per the state protocol. She nodded, stood up, and left the table.
The supervisor then sat down again and began to look at my entry and all of a sudden the text of the entire entry disappeared from the screen. He tried to bring me back up, but it was as though I did not exist. He turned to the Navy man and said if I hadn’t seen his name on here I would think it’s something very strange is going on with this gentleman but obviously there’s a glitch in the system somewhere, please re-register him and give him his vaccine.
So the medic nodded in assent, waved to the coordinator and told him that his table will be shut down for a short while. So I had to go through the entire registration process again with him, and of course spell everything to him three times to ensure that it was correct, then check everything twice, and then I received my vaccine. At least that was without incident. He apologized to me, and I said no need to apologize, you are just doing your job and I’m very appreciative of your help.
As I walked out, the nurse supervisor said that in all the days he’s been doing that this was the first time that this or anything like it had happened. I smiled and said thank you for your help, and went to the 15 minute waiting pavilion.
I awakened this morning (a good thing) thinking:
If according to the right wing it is acceptable to not wear a mask and thus infect and kill random individuals, then it really is not too much of a stretch to say that random killing because someone is having a bad day or is a sex addict is acceptable behavior. I believe the caveat is that the victims have to be people whom the right wing despises. That would of course be anyone of color, Jews, immigrants of almost any stripe, excluding of course Norwegians and Swedes.
I believe that more individuals should watch the series The Man In The High Castle just to visualize the brilliant casting and the fact that a homogeneous America is a realistic and theoretically possible goal for these miscreants. It’s a little soap opera-y, but once it gets rolling, it’s very effective.
I'm having a really bad day...
Lots of holes in my schedule, two ridiculously obnoxious patients this afternoon, bank balance low (and lower because I renewed my Star Membership here 😄😄😄
, lousy weather and my head hurts.
I know....I’m going to go to a legitimate massage parlor....and get a nice relaxing massage. Then I’ll feel at least marginally better.
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Philly
Home country: USA!USA!USA!
Current location: Jersey Shore
Member since: Sun Feb 22, 2004, 09:01 AM
Number of posts: 25,532
