Heal Thyself

Friends ask me why I don't go to doctors. I do have osteoarthritis in my knees, which prompts the next question about why I don't have replacement surgery. My answer to both questions is that I want to give my body the chance to take me as far as it will without all the prodding, pills and punctures.

I enjoy a wonderful quality of life, rarely if ever thinking about my health. Except for the knees, I'm amazingly healthy with only an occasional cold. My thinking on the subject is this: If I were to discover some disease or major illness, the rest of my days would be spent fretting and dealing with such a diagnosis (or misdiagnosis). And even if it were real, I find letting things be gets me from day to day with a great outlook on life and a feeling of peace.

It's not that I've never gone to physicians or that I have a phobia about seeing them. After all, I've had five major surgeries, the latest almost 30 years ago. And the last time I went to see a doctor, almost four years ago, I had a suspicious mole, which my GP removed. (Biopsy showed it was benign.) What I don't do are the yearly checkup and the tests that include blood work, blood pressure check and the like. I wait for something specific to occur before I make an appointment.

To set the record straight about my medical preferences, I do think that psychiatrists and chiropractors are quacks. Close family members have been treated by both and I believe the methods of such doctors are suspect at the very least. GPs are my favorite doctors, especially those who actually listen to patients. Beyond that, the more basic medical treatments the better for me. I grew up going to country doctors only for such things as pneumonia or a deep cut from barbed wire. Too many tests these days. Too many procedures.

For many years, I said that if I were to reach a certain age -- no, I won't say what age -- that everything after that would be gravy. I reached that age three years ago. We'll see what the future brings.

Growing the State

Yet another Liberal has put himself in hot water, and by doing so has betrayed the ideals of his political philosophy.

Charlie Rangel's been busy, by all accounts: failing to declare hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets, shadily raising money to build a private center named after him, taking expensive trips to the Caribbean on the public dime.

Liberals obviously don't believe in liberty. They believe in control. And to increase control, they favor the exponential growth of the State. It amazes me that people I know--including our very own Cassandra--rail against the corruption of the government in one sentence, but in the very next, advocate the increased growth of the State by every possible means, including the centralizing of huge industries and the raising of taxes.

The only way to control the corruption that is inherent in the State is to control the size of the State. How many times does that need to be said before benighted Liberals get it?

Wrong Is Wrong, But Wright Is Right

That abrasive jackass Jeremiah Wright is in the news again for spewing racist cant from the podium a week or two ago.

That's not surprising, of course, but the accuracy of one of his statements actually is.

Wright apparently said that the American education system is built to poorly educate black students "by malignant intent."

Well, he's half right. As everyone knows, the education system is built to poorly educate ALL students by malignant intent.

Washington: Stop Centralizing!

Joe Barton and Michele Bachmann both made excellent points during last week's Congressional shakedown of BP. Barton's forced apology was hollow and pointless. Washington is supremely incompetent, intrusive, and deleteriously antagonistic toward private business and the free market, and the Feds have no business administering a $20 billion escrow fund for the victims of the oil spill. The fund, as Bill O'Reilly and Laura Ingraham noted, should be overseen by the state governments directly involved, including Louisiana and Florida.

The Obama Administration always jumps at the chance to move in on the private sector, sacking the free market and saddling it with choking regulation and bureaucratic red tape, whether it's banks, investment firms, health insurance companies, or family-owned small businesses.

The last thing the oil spill disaster needs, now or ever, is an escrow fund "czar." Hundreds of fishing and tourism businesses in the Gulf have complained, practically in tears, about the interference that results when their requests for aid have to be cleared through dozens of federal agencies, each with its endless rules and forms. The federal government had the same problems getting decisions made quickly and aid sent on time during the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

So back off, Obama & Co., and let the locals deal directly with BP without having to obtain clearance from the EPA or other federal agencies first.

Movie of the Week: 'Iris'

Getting old ain't fun. In addition to the physical changes that come about for even the most ardent exercisers, there's always the worry about the mind going, Alzheimer's settling in. The dreaded disease is the theme for "Iris," which is based on the life of British writer Iris Murdoch and stars Judy Dench and Kate Winslet.

Iris was a free spirit, bedding numerous men in the Oxford area of England. She wrote more than 20 novels with the theme being sexual discovery and relationships. As she aged, maybe in her late 60s, she had what she thought was writer's block. Of course, it was the early signs of Alzheimer's. Neither she nor her husband, professor John Bayley, put any importance on cleanliness and organization when she was well. As the disease set in, their house became a shambles with garbage and collections of all types building up around them.

My grandmother had Alzheimer's, and I believe the movie captures the hell both the victim and those who love them go through as the days and years become grayer, more fearful and less connected for the ill one. I recommend "Iris" for anyone who likes good acting and substance in a movie.

Catching Up

First, it was my rotator cuff out of whack. Second, it was my husband's surgery. And third, it was my baby cat's illness after her dental surgery. All good reasons why I haven't posted anything for so long. So here goes with a few short thoughts.

1. Why would anyone marry Rush Limbaugh, he of Viagra and Oxycontin abuse? Oh, right, the bucks. She will earn them.

2. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill continues and the animals and birds keep dying. Obama says he has ordered 17,000 National Guard troops to the Gulf. Where are they? Where is the oversight of Big Oil? Republicans, Libertarians and, yes, Democrats have gutted regulations in recent years, regulations being a big, bad word much like liberal. Speaking of big and bad, where is Dick Cheney these days? He's usually out in front of cameras bashing Obama. Like his slick, slimy, fellow politico Sarah Palin, he looks like a complete fool and traitor when he has chosen to side with Big Oil over America's interests. Does he hate America? Does Palin hate America?

3. It didn't take long for those who hate big government to come running for handouts, did it? Folks like little Bobby Jindal, for example. And even run-at-the-mouth Michele Bachmann has asked where the government is down in Louisiana, why didn't Obama commandeer boats to help with the spill. Commandeer boats? Well, isn't that government takeover? Whose boats would she commandeer? Another loony who speaks before she thinks. Oh, yes, I forgot. She can't think.

4. Why are so many men puffing up their military history? One guy running in Connecticut, another in Illinois, both of whom were actually in the service but didn't do what they said they did. No doubt they're trying to draw in the fruit loop voters who never served but who promote veterans as heroes so they can keep wars going for nefarious reasons. Those of us who had loved ones in the service -- many in my immediate family -- know that they did their duty because they were forced to by the draft. They never considered themselves to be heroes and wanted to get the hell out as fast as they could. They don't hate those lying these days about their military service. They hate those who lie to get us into wars and those who never served but call for more wars.

5. What's with idiot Rand Paul? He had it made, winning the primary in Kentucky. He had the teapot crowd backing him and all he had to do is sit back and win in November. He may win in November -- it is the south, after all -- but now everyone knows what he really thinks. In a way I feel like a fool because I agreed with about 80 percent of what Libertarians espoused. Now I know they're just racists, bigots and haters like the Limbaughs, Becks and others. Paul never saw the time when someone couldn't get a sandwich at a lunch counter because they were born with a certain skin color. The Whites and Colored drinking fountains at county fairs and parks. He never saw the time when a black man and his wife couldn't get a room at a motel for the night. Paul doesn't care about those times. He cares only about businesses and what they want, no matter how discriminatory all of it might be. I hope he loses, but as I said, it's the south.

Enough for now. Time to get back to the book I'm reading, "The End of the Free Market" by Ian Bremmer. I usually have my nose in an English mystery, but this one caught my eye because of the way world economies are crumbling. Will let you know how it ends.

All for Nothing

My cousin Ronnie was 19 years old when he died in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. He arrived there in August 1969. Forty five days later he was dead, drowned in a rushing river while trying to cross it with a heavy pack on his back.

Recently I checked for Ronnie's name on www.VIRTUALWALL.org, where names and basic information are available through the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It shows, for example, that he was in the 11th Infantry, his body was recovered, he was a ground casualty, he received a posthumous promotion, and where his name can be found on the Wall in Washington, D.C. All of this is informative, but it doesn't help to bring back the cheerful, intelligent boy I remember so well from the many times we visited him and his family on their Wisconsin farm.

I ask anyone to tell me why he died so far away from home. Does anyone remember why the U.S. went to Vietnam? Why we stayed there? Why we allowed the years to go by as young men died and were maimed by the many thousands? When anyone can answer those questions truthfully, I ask why we went to Afghanistan and Iraq, why we stay there, and why we allow the years to go by as young men and women die and are maimed by the many thousands.

Ronnie would have been 60 years old this year. He did not die to defend our country. He did not die to protect his family. He did not die working on the family farm like his uncle Jerry did. He did die to protect the military industrial complex. He did die to protect politicians. He did die to protect oil interests. He did die to satisfy old men's fantasies. My cousin's death, all for nothing.

Ronnie's mother died a few years after her son, at age 48, a heart attack, they said. We all said she died from a broken heart.

Have I Got A Deal For You

The wild ride the stock market took this past week was reported by major news outlets with some anchors and reporters asking if 401(k)s are at risk. Duh.

The stock market is gambling, pure and simple. People put their money in the market because they want and expect a greater return on it than what they can get at an FDIC-protected bank. They gamble that over the long run they'll get more out of the market than in a CD, for example. They gamble that they are too uninformed to make good judgments about their own money. They gamble that others are so very smart and will keep their own best interests in mind when handling their money.

Personally, I don't like giving over my money to someone else to decide where they want to place it. I did at one time, just like so many, many others. But these days there are too many variables, too much uncertainty, too many crooks, too many liars. If I want to gamble, I'd have a lot more fun going to the casinos where they offer great buffets and free drinks. At least there I'd have the fun of pulling the slots myself and not giving over everything to Wall Street and Main Street charlatans to play around with, making themselves rich. Cowardly, maybe. Able to sleep soundly each night, for certain.

The Devil Is in the Details

To those idiots who want the federal government to run healthcare and health insurance, energy, the economy, housing, banking, employment and labor, retirement income, education, urban planning, domestic and international trade, and just about every other human activity under the sun, I say wake up and smell the coffee.

I pull a mailer from the U.S. Postal Service out of the mailbox telling me that Saturday, May 8, is the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, run by the National Association of Letter Carriers and the USPS. What is this, I ask myself. I read that the USPS letter carriers will be collecting non-perishable foods to help hungry and poor families in the community. The mailer asks us to put our food donations next to our mailboxes on Saturday, May 8, before our letter carriers arrive with the day's mail. The carriers will take the food to the Post Office, where it will be sorted and then delivered to local food banks and pantries.

What a nice idea, I say to myself. I figure that I have a bunch of canned food I can donate, and head in to bag it up.

And then it hits me.

What day do you suppose I get this mailer delivered to my mailbox?

Drill, Baby, Drill

The recent oil rig explosion and resulting spill were and are very unfortunate. Lives were tragically lost and the environment has been at least temporarily harmed. Today's oil drilling industry takes numerous precautions to safeguard the drilling "footprint." No system is foolproof; accidents will always happen. The pertinent question is, How often? In the case of offshore explosions and spills, not often at all.

But listening to the uproar over drilling offshore, one would think those critics never bought gasoline, ink, crayons, bubble gum, dishwashing liquid, deodorant, eyeglasses, CDs, DVDs, tires, ammonia, or even heart valves.

Cleaner energies should be developed, and they will be. That is the direction in which the developed world is moving. But before these newer, cleaner, more efficient energies are implemented, we can't just stop using oil, willy-nilly.

Today, here and now, we need oil, and so we have to continue looking for it and drilling -- and buying it from other countries. Sensible people would rather not have to buy oil from other countries, especially since most of those countries are not very friendly to us otherwise. So let's keep drilling for oil, while doing our best to safeguard our refinery crews and our landscapes.