Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Saturday, January 26, 2008
More than one way to scan a CAT
Just at the end of my internet ‘surfing tour’ - and there is a new entry on the ‘Cool Observer’s’ site: thanks, Mickey - from a rather warm (ry 86F) Daylesford.
‘Health care’ = ‘disease care’: priceless, Mickey!
I hope you are holding up reasonably well. Good to see you blogging again.
xo to you and to any expendables who are going to comment from down under
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/26 at 10:55 PMHi Helga. We’ve got winter weather here in NYC for sure.
Btw, upon reading of Suharto’s death, I added a couple more links to the main post. We can expect plenty of denouncements of the former Indonesian dictator but let’s never forget that he ruled with decades of steady approval and support from the land of the free.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/27 at 09:02 AMThe tales of malfeasance that come out of the health care industry (accent that last word with 500mg heavy irony, PRN) have been increasing of late, and I’ve had a few eye-openers myself. A specialist’s office that I’d been to several times refused to supply some records that I requested, which is illegal as well as unethical. Like Groucho once quipped, “I’ve a mind to join a golf club and hit you over the head with it.”
Q: Is Michele OK? I mean, aside from being a vegan. (rim shot, please)
I saw “There Will Be Blood” and it’s very well done. It should be seen in a theater - the photography and colors are great. Day-Lewis’ blowtorch intensity is present and accounted for, and he is the centerpiece of the film. **This film has perhaps the most satisfying ending ever.
Ford Photo Caption: “Don’t start until we’ve left the neighborhood - it might look bad.”
Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 01/27 at 12:08 PMYeah, outside of her chronic veganism, Michele is fine.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/27 at 01:20 PMHad to share this...RMJ...did you vote on this?
“If Hitler were still alive and walked through Brattleboro, I think the local police would arrest him for war crimes,” Daims said.
Brattleboro to vote on arresting Bush, Cheney
January 26, 2008
By Susan Smallheer Herald Staff
BRATTLEBORO Vermont— Brattleboro residents will vote at town meeting on whether President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should be indicted and arrested for war crimes, perjury or obstruction of justice if they ever step foot in Vermont.The Brattleboro Select Board voted 3-2 Friday to put the controversial item on the Town Meeting Day warning.
According to Town Clerk Annette Cappy, organizers of the Bush-Cheney issue gathered enough signatures, and it was up to the Select Board whether Brattleboro voters would consider the issue in March.
Cappy said residents will get to vote on the matter by paper balloting March 4.
Kurt Daims, 54, of Brattleboro, the organizer of the petition drive, said Friday the debate to get the issue on the ballot was a good one. Opposition to the vote focused on whether the town had any power to endorse the matter.
“It is an advisory thing,” said Daims, a retired prototype machinist and stay-at-home dad of three daughters.
So far, Vermont is the only state Bush hasn’t visited since he became president in 2001.
Daims said the most grievous crime committed by Bush and Cheney was perjury — lying to Congress and U.S. citizens about the basis of a war in Iraq.
He said the latest count showed a total of 600,000 people have died in the war.
Daims also said he believed Bush and Cheney were also guilty of espionage for spying on American people and obstruction of justice, for the politically generated firings of U.S. attorneys.
Voting to put the matter on the town ballot were Chairwoman Audrey Garfield and board members Richard Garrant and Dora Boubalis.
Voting against the idea were board members Richard DeGray and Stephen Steidle.
Daims said the names submitted to the town clerk’s office were the second wave of signatures the petition drive had to collect, because he had to rewrite the wording of the petition.
He said he gathered nearly 500 signatures in about three weeks, and he said most people he encountered were eager to sign it. He started the petition drive about three months ago.
“Everybody I talked to wanted Bush to go,” he said, noting that even members of the local police department supported the drive.
“This is exactly what the charter envisioned as a citizen initiative,” Daims said. “People want to express themselves and they want to say how they feel.”
He said the idea is spreading: Activists in Louisville, Ky., are spearheading a similar drive, and he said activists were also working in Montague, Mass., a Berkshires town.
The article asked the town attorney to “draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution and publish said indictments for consideration by other authorities.”
The article goes on to say the indictments would be the “law of the town of Brattleboro that the Brattleboro police ... arrest and detain George Bush and Richard Cheney in Brattleboro, if they are not duly impeached ...”
Daims said people in Brattleboro were willing to “think outside the box” and consider the issue.
Daims had no compunction in comparing Bush and Cheney with one of the most notorious people in history.
“If Hitler were still alive and walked through Brattleboro, I think the local police would arrest him for war crimes,” Daims said.
Posted by joe of maine on from 01/27 at 01:44 PMHi Everyone...Mickey...recently, my medical experience...I told a VA doctor recently I found a dr. that is very helpful...I elaborated...doctors can be found anywhere on any street corner...true healers are rare...I have found someone who truly cares. His office is in his home...it feels good simply going there...sitting with the doctor’s cats in the waiting room...wooded setting with the Bay in front...truly a healing experience. Most doctors in their cold lab setting, with a fraction of their brain functioning and their feelings shut down are clueless and charge patient for their opportunity to play guessing games and pay for their low tech equipment.
Posted by joe of maine on from 01/27 at 02:02 PMHello all…
I was somewhat surprised to see the New York Times mention US support of Suharto at all...of course it took them about 18 paragraphs in to do so here:
“Whether it was those forces or his timing, good fortune came to him. Just as the United States was becoming embroiled in Vietnam, he stood as a bulwark against Communism in Asia. The United States rewarded him with a foreign aid program that eventually amounted to more than $4 billion a year. In addition, a consortium of Western countries and Japan established an aid program that in 1994 alone totaled almost $5 billion.
In doing so, the United States, along with much of the rest of the world, showed a willingness to overlook the corruption, favoritism and violations of human rights, including the disappearance of opposition politicians, that came to characterize Mr. Suharto’s rule.”
Posted by JOS on from Oak Park 01/27 at 02:14 PMHellos to JOS, Mickey, joe, Helga, Zen, and all…
joe...I was just going to post a link to that article. No, I didn’t vote for it because where I live I couldn’t. I don’t live in Brattleboro. I live over the mountain and on the other side of the State. Brattleboro is a very interesting town. That is where the little book store is that had Mickey’s book on prominent display right by the cash register.
About appendectomies...My appendix burst when I was 15. I walked around for 3 days in pain. My father had just lost his medical insurance. My pain was NOT in my lower right side. It was up under the rib cage. After 3 days, I was taken to the hospital where a very good doctor, fresh out of med school saved my life.
About doctors and nutrition...very few are educated on the topic - worse yet, very few really know a lot about the drugs that they prescribe.Posted by RMJ on from Mickey Z 4 Prez Hdqts 01/27 at 03:33 PMHello again, Expendables. After reading the comments from both Joe and RMJ, I’m reminded that yes, there are doctors out there with a sincere dedication to their work. If only the system allowed more of them to “first, do no harm.”
JOS: Funny how the Times adds in the “along with much of the rest of the world” disclaimer. As if “the rest of the world” wields a fraction of America’s influence and power.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/27 at 04:28 PMHi, Mickey (good to hear that Michele is fine), Zen Prole, Joe of Maine, JOS and Rosemarie.
Mickey # 2: ‘We can expect plenty of denouncements of the former Indonesian dictator but let’s never forget that he ruled with decades of steady approval and support from the land of the free.’ Too true - and let’s also never forget how he was installed and how many hundreds of thousands were murdered in 1965 and thereafter.
Just heard on the Australian news that Suharto was a dictator but that there was steady economic growth while he was in power. Ah well - that’s A-ok then ..
It is warming up here: 88F today.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 01/27 at 07:11 PMAh yes, Helga. Human rights violations are easily forgotten if the ruling class has gained from them. As Mussolini once said: “Fascism is corporatism.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 01/27 at 07:20 PM
Next entry: What's the state of your union?
Previous entry: "Good Grief"
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
