JLM's Journal

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:42:00 +0000

Recently I had dinner with a few educators for the medical school. An educator is not someone who actually does the teaching. They consider themselves above a teacher. The educator is the one who determines the curriculum and various teaching methods. They make sure that goals and objectives are written for every lecture and they make out evaluation forms and other meaningless paper work that makes teaching unpleasant.

Anyway, these educators I met with were talking about teaching in the future and how much of it will be by the computer. In the future medical students may be largely home schooled. We are moving in that direction pretty rapidly because now when I give a lecture I am staring at the backs of computers rather than into the face of a student. The practice of medicine is also headed in that direction. The computer can ask all the questions and order the appropriate test and then prescribe the correction medication. There will probably be less medical errors and the cost of medical care will decrease. The educators also believe that social behavior and interaction between the patient and physician can be learned via the computer. This may be true because the computer is more warm and friendly than many of the physicians I have dealt with.

I sure miss the empathy and compassion of my old family doc. In retrospect he couldn’t do much but he made you feel good and confident that he was in charge and doing everything humanly possible to make you well. One good thing about the computer doc of the future is that I won’t have to wait three months for an appointment. He will always be at my desk or on the laptop wherever I go. No more talking to an answering machine when trying to get hold of the doc.

If you are wondering how the computer can do a physical exam; it can be done with a little ultrasound probe that plugs into a USB port. The exam will also be much more accurate.

Well, that’s the future of medicine. Cost should be reduced and accuracy improved when we take the human element out of the picture. It will be interesting to see what happens when the computer gets sued. The plaintiffs attorney will have to type in his questions. Settlements and awards will be interesting.

Just think, my porch will become a doctors office and hospital. The uses for the porch expands daily in this world of computers

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:10:00 +0000

The above picture has been sent to me by several friends and I couldn’t resist putting it on the blog. It is the picture of the year. Unfortunately, it’s not simply a joke but represents a major problem I have with my fellow man. Many times I have lifted up people and placed them on a pedestal only for them to fall off and cause me great disappointment.

Tiger Woods was one of the ones I thought might be a perfect hero but again I was wrong. He is just another human and a jerk. The fact that he is the number one golfer and a billionaire means nothing. The town drunk has better morals.

There have been many occasions in which I have helped someone either financially or to further their career and they turn out to be a disappointment and have even turned on me. I call them the Frankenstein’s I have created.

That is the reason I have come to expect very little from folks and withdrawn to my fortress of solitude on the porch. At least the deer don’t disappoint me, I know they are going to destroy my yard. I hope Tiger has won his last tournament. Always remember, scum always rises.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:16:00 +0000

Ordinarily, things like the escalation of the war in Afghanistan, the struggling economy, healthcare reform legislation the financial crisis associated with the emerald city in the desert, Dubal, and the proliferation of nuclear enrichment plants in Iran would be top news that would scare us to death and get our attention. All of these news items have taken a back seat this week to more important matters like the crashing of a White House party by a couple of people with weird names and even of greater importance, the wreak involving Tiger Woods.

Tareq Salahi and his wife Michaele managed to slip through security and walk right in on a big White House party and be greeted by the President. They had their picture taken with folks like Joe Biden and apparently had a big time at the party. They pulled it off by being well dressed and just acting like they were celebrities and big shots, so security didn’t dare question their identity for fear of embarrassing themselves for not knowing this possible famous couple. It’s a great trick if you have the nerve to pull it off. It’s sort of like walking into a hospital with a white coat and a stethoscope around your neck and pretending to be a doctor; nobody would dare question you for fear of getting chewed out or looking stupid.

The biggest news of the week was Tiger Woods smashing his car into a fireplug while backing out of his driveway at 2:30 in the morning. This has been international news and everyone is wondering why he would do such a thing and not give an explanation of where he was going. There can only be one logical explanation. There was obviously a domestic dispute and he had such a burst of temper he blew it off by jumping into his car and gunning it out of the driveway right into the fireplug. There is only one reason for a domestic dispute at that hour of the morning and it most certainly had to do with sex or the lack of by his partner. He was like a raging bull looking for relief. He should of thought of a cold shower, but with matters like this you usually are incapable of thinking. The blood drains out of your brain into other parts of your body making thinking impossible. That’s the reason there are so many births in the world. The public is not going to stop inquiring about this story and all of Tiger’s affairs will now be aired and all sorts of women will be claiming they have been to bed with the golfing billionaire. Many other women in heat and in search of fame will be seeking his attention. His good guy reputation has been forever tainted and he now joins the ranks of most Hollywood celebrities. All of this because his wife had a headache.

It’s great just rocking on the porch and not having to worry about such matters at my age. I’m content to watch the social behavior of the deer and other wild animals in my backyard that is really not much different from our current newsmakers.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:09:00 +0000

I don’t watch the American Music Awards because I don’t appreciate what is now called music. Fortunately, I am completely out of touch with today’s music and most other things in our mixed up world. At this year’s awards ceremony, the rock star Adam Lambert shook things up with his homosexually explicit performance. His scheduled appearance on “Good Morning America” was cancelled because they couldn’t trust what he would do. He did make it onto the lower rated “Early Show.” I’m proud of “Good Morning America.”

There were a couple of encouraging things in the entertainment world this week. Taylor Swift won the main award at the American Music Awards. I even like her stuff and she seems like a wholesome, sweet girls who is very talented and writes much of her own music. I just hope she remains that way rather than becoming a dope, crazed freak with sunglasses. The other positive happening was that Donny Osmond won the top award on “Dancing With the Stars.” Maybe there is some hope for the entertainment world and for me.

My world of music died long ago with Elvis and The Beatles. I must admit that through the years I have come to like some of the Beatles songs and also some of Elvis. I generally hate rock music and I don’t even like the church music anymore. They no longer use hymnals in church. The words are projected on a screen and it’s the same verses over and over with ear shattering accompaniment.

I love my iPod because I have filled it with my easy listening stuff and selected classical pieces. I even have a little country western. This is what I listen to on the porch. The music is very relaxing and I figure the deer must like it also because a lot of them are attracted to the porch when it’s playing. Now that I think about it, I may play a little Adam Lambert and other trash rock stuff. That should scare the deer away and may be the best deterrent yet.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:33:00 +0000

With all the new guidelines for medical screening every patient is going to need a private secretary to keep up with the multiple appointment times for checkups. Keeping up with an individual patient and when they are due for certain test is going to be an impossible task for the physician unless they have an army of secretaries and massive computer support.

More guidelines will come so the whole thing is going to get worse. Mammograms start at age 50 and need to be obtained every 2 years. Pap smears start at age 21 and are obtained every 2 year. Everything stops at 65 or 70 and the patient awaits the death panel to determine if they should receive any medical care. There are many other routine test for which new guidelines will be developed. Now it’s every 5 years for a colonoscopy. PSA test are now done every year and the length of time between cholesterol and blood sugar test is very variable. The whole ideal of CT scanning for early detection of lung cancer is a subject of debate and this will certainly be dropped. The frequency and need for osteoporosis screening is questionable. Even though the physical exam is of limited value, this is certainly going to be redefined as to the need and frequency. It’s a full time job just to keep up with all these studies and the various times they should be obtained. This is also not to mention the schedule for immunizations including flu, tetanus, shingles, pneumonia, etc., etc. The immunization schedule for kids is another complex subject that changes almost daily.

All this is more than any doctor can keep up with and still try to treat sick people. To compound the issue there will be a critical shortage of doctors with national health care and all the new folks enrolled and demanding care.

We do need healthcare reform but there are going to be a lot of problems with a government program. We do need coverage for everyone and the insurance and pharmaceutical companies are in great need of cleaning up their act. Fraud and abuse of Medicare, self-referral and medical liability are other major problems that account for millions of wasted dollars.

Life is pretty simple on the porch. I don’t dare call for a doctor’s appointment; they will just laugh when I tell them my age. All I can do is await the appointment with the death panel.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:31:00 +0000

The news this week is about new guidelines for cancer screening. These guidelines are based on so-called evidence based medicine. This approach looks at not only lives saved but at the unnecessary or false positive results that leads to complications, anxiety and increased medical cost. It asks the question if the lives saved are really worth it. The panel of folks who developed the new guidelines didn’t have any real experts in the field to give their input. The new guidelines call for the start of mammography screening at age 50 rather than 40 and also state that women do not need to do self-examination. Experts in the field say that the new guidelines are wrong at that many lives are saved by the start of mammography screening and self-breast examination at age 40. My own experience which dates back to the literal start of mammography by Egan in the 1960’s also tells me that the guidelines will cost lives. I have personally detected many cancers under age 50 and these women are alive because of early detection. It is true that false positive results cause anxiety and are costly but it is a small price to pay for the lives saved.

The guidelines say that only 1 life out of every 1,904 screened will be saved whereas if you wait until 50 to start screening it is 1 life saved for every 1,300 screened and over 60 it is 1 life saved out of 500 screened. In other words it’s not worth saving the 1 out of 1,904.

With this statistical approach we could look at the airlines. There will be a couple of million people flying on Thanksgiving. Using the same number as the screening guidelines this would mean about 1,054 would die from flying this Thanksgiving. With this number the airlines would be closed and millions of dollars would be spent to protect that number and save the lives. I don’t know why we are spending so many billions of dollars on screening for terrorist who might board the airlines. We should eliminate this costly and inconvenient practice because the terrorist would probably only crash 2 or 4 airplanes a year. If we lost only a few thousand passengers a year this is still less that the projected loss from discontinuing the practice of screening mammography under age 50.

The government is going to love these new guidelines and with national healthcare we can expect many more recommendations of this nature. If we look at evidence-based medicine carefully we could eliminate about 80% of visits to the doctor each day and that would even save lives. Many more lives could be saved by eliminating tobacco and alcohol from the market and reducing the speed limit to 55 mph.

It’s not so bad being old and sitting on the porch. My spouse and I have already had everything and there is nothing left to screen for. We are just waiting our turn for the government panel that evaluates you at the end of life and will stamp my forehead with the do not resuscitate label.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:10:00 +0000

All the legal terms being used to describe the Ft. Hood killer are amazing. There were a room full of witnesses watching this guy kill 13 people and wound 30 others and the media and the lawyers have the nerve to call him a suspect. In the days of the old west he would have been taken to the nearest tree and hung for his crime of murder. Now days the authorities are reluctant to call this murder and excuses for his action will be made to protect the civil right of this homicidal monster.

They are now referring to the allegations against the defendant rather than saying this cold-blooded killer. The strongest term that has been used is perpetrator of the shootings. The news also refers to him as the accused.

It will probably take years before this horrific act and the killer are brought to trial. We simply can’t run the risk of violating this guys civil rights. The court will then hear justification for his actions, like he shouldn’t have been retained in the army because he didn’t want to kill the other scum in his homeland. It’s okay that he voluntarily joined the military and thousands of taxpayer dollars were used for his education. We are now about to waste thousands of more taxpayer dollars to try this grease ball.

Where is a Jack Ruby when we need him? In retrospect, Jack Ruby was probably right is killing Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald might still be in prison if Ruby had not acted for us.

Another defense for this piece of trash is that he was acting for his God to rid the world of infidels and that his action was no more than the killing that is done in battle. Allah and the Holy Koran authorized him to go into battle to protect is brethren at home. He will probably have a jury made up of Muslims and Unitarians who will understand his point of view and acquit him. Then the US Government will pay him disability and a pension for the rest of his life because he was paralyzed in the line of duty.
I only hope that this swarthy murderer will meet the same fate that I wish for the deer who occupy my backyard and spoil the view from the porch. This deranged fanatic has certainly spoiled our view of Muslims and their part of the world.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:59:00 +0000

My spouse is already in the kitchen getting ready for Thanksgiving. I did my part this morning. My job is to make the cornbread for the dressing. Cornbread making is my specialty. I was taught by the master when I was a child; my mother. Cornbread is the basic ingredient for the dressing that accompanies the turkey. Some folks prefer the dressing made primarily with flour. Yuk!!

Cornbread is like nectar from the Gods. God provided manna for the wandering Israelites when they left Egypt. Manna is supposed to come in the night with the dew. I can mix the cornbread up anytime and it goes with everything. God hadn’t discovered cornbread at the time of the exodus or he would have provided the Jews with this delicacy and they would probably have been a much less contentious bunch through the years. God had to wait until the birth of my mother before one of the great food discoveries, namely cornbread. Mankind missed out on a lot without cornbread. I could do without cell phones and even computers but not cornbread.

My favorite meals have been at home, not at some fancy expensive restaurant. There is nothing better than a meal of blackeyed peas, fresh homegrown tomatoes or a stewed mixture of okra, tomatoes and onions, all of course complimented with cornbread and iced tea. I like an evening meal or late night snack of nothing but cornbread crumbled into a big glass of cold milk.

My cornbread has an egg and buttermilk as a couple of the essential ingredients, so it’s probably bad for you. Who cares? I had rather cross over the River Jordon than be denied my cornbread. Like my little granddaughter said, “if it taste good it must be bad for you.” In the case of cornbread, I prefer the taste to good health.

As I sit on the porch and enjoy the aroma of the goodies being prepared in the kitchen, I noticed the deer getting closer to the house. If I left the door open, I’m sure they would be in the kitchen for a piece of that cornbread as it comes out of the oven.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:58:00 +0000

The government will spend millions probing into the life of Nidal Hasan the Fort Hood shooter who took the life of 13 people and injured 30 others. I could save them a lot of money because I know his situation well. Having served in the military at Walter Reed and also having worked with various residencies and physicians of all types for over 50 years I can speak with some degree of authority.

I feel confident in the profile of this individual that I could construct. To begin with he is a Muslim who is indoctrinated with the beliefs of this religion. He believes that the rest of us are infidels and that it is a holy thing to take out as many Christians and Jews as possible even at the expense of his own life. He, of course, is totally opposed to our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and certainly was not going to tolerate being deployed to fight against his brethren. The fact that he is an American citizen and has been a quiet neighbor means nothing.

He was a poor physician who didn’t fit into the mold of the average student in training. This has not always been the case, but currently his chosen field of psychiatry is a noncompetitive residency and attracts the poorest and most dysfunctional students. There are of course exceptions to this statement but Hasan was no exception, he was the norm. Some of the brightest students I have known have chosen psychiatry for a career but they are the exception. It is no surprise that he received poor residency evaluations and I’m sure he was a misfit throughout his entire training.

The fact that he was a major in the army means nothing. Doctors are promoted automatically because of time in rank and merit is not a consideration in the promotions process. He could have been a psychotic Adolph Hitler and still have made colonel.

The sad thing is that we allow dysfunctional people to complete residency training or medical school and even serve in the military. We are reluctant to dismiss these misfits because it’s too much trouble and there will be an army of lawyers down on us for violating the individual’s civil rights. As a result they continue to marginally get through and do much harm to patients and have the potential to perform a heinous act such as the massacre at Fort Hood.

That’s my analysis from the porch and I suspect it is completely correct. My recommendation is to turn off the ventilator and save the taxpayers some money.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:23:00 +0000

Yesterday’s news reported about the financial problems of the movie superstar Nicholas Cage. Cage makes 20 million a movie with a whole string of movies like “National Treasure” to his credit. He has been a multimillionaire and has several mega-mansions scattered around the world. Cage is now in big financial trouble because his financial advisor has made off with all the money and left Cage in debt and owing 6 million to the IRS. It’s hard for me to feel sorry for a guy like that. Even though he owes all that money to the government he will probably get off without a hitch whereas I would be in jail for owing a hundred bucks.

Maybe I’m just jealous but all these multimillionaires are about to drive me to becoming a socialist. Of course the Wall Street gangsters and the CEOs of banks and big businesses are the worst. Ballplayers are also in the million-dollar club. They are a bunch of millionaires out there getting tackled, hitting a baseball or throwing a ball into a hoop. Perhaps I shouldn’t complain because there are a lot of folks in my profession who don’t see patients making megabucks.

It’s easy to understand why the masses who are doing the work finally revolt. I’m not one to march and carry signs but my revolt is to simply not see anymore Nicholas Cage movies and to stop watching some of the ridiculous ball games that don’t mean anything anyway.

Even the authors of some the books I read are in the multi-millionaire club as well as some of the musicians I enjoy. Folks like Mozart and other classic musicians were people of modest means or even poor. Most of the authors of the classic books were not wealthy and certainly not in the class of a pro ballplayer or a Nicholas Cage. No one has been in the league of the Wall Street gang.

To keep from getting angry with all of these overpaid thugs I guess I will have to restrict my reading on the porch to the scriptures and notes from my friends on facebook.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:29:00 +0000

It has been said that no matter how bad things may be for you that there is someone in the world who has it worse. The way things have been going lately, I would sure hate to see that person. Sometimes I feel like I could add a chapter or two to Job.

I recently received the above picture from a friend and it brightened my day to know that some may have it even worse with animals in the deer family taking over their yard. I’m going to have to stop complaining about my deer after seeing what those poor people in Montana have to put up with. The elk are larger but my deer make up for the difference by sheer number. There are now about 30 of the scrawny pest eating my foliage.

I’m still studying effective deer deterrents and so far I have found that there are none. My book on poisonous plants hasn’t even helped. One of the most lethal poisons in the world is ricin, which comes from the bean of the Castor Bean plant. The Castor Bean plants are pretty common and have a big leaf. Some people have planted these in their yard because they are supposed to keep flies away. The problem is that the deer love the leaves of the plant, which are tasty and nonpoisonous. They don’t eat the beans.

I had always thought that the human was the most intelligent of the species. After living on the planet for several decades and being part of that group I’m convinced that is untrue. The deer are the most intelligent of all the animals even the fox and dogs. They just roam around eating anything they want and are protected by the law. They are very promiscuous and apparently have a lot of fun just breeding with each other with no major objections from others in the herd. The does don’t seem to be the least bit jealous and don’t really care who they breed with. There are some in the human species who exhibit similar behavior but they frequently end up in jail or the morgue.

I guess the best thing is for me to just give up on the deer problem. If we build another home we will probably have a rock yard in the desert. With my luck there will be something else to contend with such as scorpions, Gila Monsters and such. I would probably still have a porch just to admire the absence of deer.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:01:00 +0000

Everywhere I go the traffic is horrible. Everyone is in a hurry and there are thousands of cars on the road. I have finally figured out where everyone is going. They obviously aren’t going to work because everyone is unemployed.

This week we have been in Dallas accompanying my daughter to some doctor’s appointments. I know now that everyone is rushing to a medical appointment of some type. The parking lots and garages of every hospital and clinic are packed. At our local hospital there is always a sea of cars in the parking lot. It’s that way at every medical facility and it’s going to get worse. When national health insurance is available to everyone then the entire population will be at the doctors office every day. The problem is that there will not be enough doctors. It’s hard to get a doctor to accept Medicare patients now and with the government plan it will be worse. Very few doctors will accept government plan patients.

The people who are packing the doctors office now will greatly increase and every doctor will be in overload. The remainder of the people who are driving around on the road are either going to the shopping malls or to a sporting event. This bunch of folks will be joining those already waiting to see the doctor. Going to the doctor is more fun than the Super Bowl or shopping.

Healthcare is the one field that is pretty much depression and recession proof. These folks are always busy. They may be paid less in the future but they always have a job. It’s great for everyone involved, not just the doctors. Many of the non-physician CEOs and other support functions for healthcare make a lot more that the poor doc or others actually seeing the patient. Many CEOs make well over a million a year and are almost in the league with bankers and other Wall Street gangsters. The more you are involved in direct patient care, the less money you make in the healthcare business.

It’s a long way from my old country doc who made house calls. He couldn’t do much but he made you fell a lot better and at least he took the time to communicate with his patients.

Government healthcare is definitely coming so I suggest increasing the number of parking places at the medical facilities and widening the roads. There is going to be even more traffic. From the porch I can hear the steady hum of traffic on I35 which is more than a mile away. Soon that will be a roar. My hope is that it might frighten the deer away.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:11:00 +0000

Today, my spouse and I attended an interesting talk by Stephen Harrigan, author of the book “Gates of the Alamo.” He has written several other book but the Alamo book is his most famous work. He has certainly researched the subject of the fall of the Alamo. Harrigan claims that the story about Travis drawing the line in the sand is a myth. This is the famous story about drawing the line in the sand with his sword and inviting all that were willing to stay and fight to the death to cross over. The story is that all but one stepped over the line. The lone dissenter was a fellow named Moses Rose who claimed he had a family and was too young to die.

There is no good historical evidence that this drawing the line ever really occurred. A fellow named William Zuber wrote a book about his 80 years in Texas in which he claimed that Rose came to his home in Shiro, Texas and told the story to him. Harrigan doesn’t believe the account by Zuber because Zuber told the story 40 years after it occurred and his memory was getting rather dim. Harrigan claims the whole story is a myth.

In history, it’s hard to tell what is myth and what is fact. I grew up thinking the Yankees were evil invaders of the South. Now the story makes the South the total bad guys. Some now believe that the holocaust never occurred. This will become dimmer with time and the Muslims may eventually convince the world that there was no holocaust. The Bible has really been picked apart about fact vs. fiction. Did Moses and God part the Red Sea and did Jesus perform all those miracles or was this all myth.

I write the blog mostly for fun, but it’s also a little historical account of the terrible things happening in the world. I’m keeping these on files but most likely no one will ever read them. I often wonder about my great grandfather who fought in the Battle of San Jacinto. I wonder what he really thought about things and I even wonder about what he ate and the ordinary things in his daily life. If future generations care I will have an account of the view from my porch and about the beginning of the deer before they completely took over the world.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:40:00 +0000

We are definitely out of news. All I have heard for the past few days is about the balloon hoax. This guy in Colorado set a large helium filled weather balloon adrift and claimed his son was inside. He was apparently trying to gain some sort of national recognition to be part of a reality TV show. The little kid was safe at home all the time while the police and national guard in Colorado were chasing the balloon. The kid finally gave the whole thing away when the family was interviewed on CNN and the kid said it was for the show.

For several days we have heard this story and seen the balloon in flight over and over. Maybe it’s good to have something this benign distract us from the horrors of the recession (which is over), unemployment, home foreclosures, bank closings, abysmal consumer purchases, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the development of the bomb by Iran. Even Healthcare Reform has taken a backseat to the balloon story. I’m sure that next we will have a Congressional hearing to investigate this outrageous hoax that was a threat to national security.

As for me, I think the kid should be the one to receive the Nobel Peace Price. He took the minds of the world off all our problems for a few hours and made us focus on the balloon. We were concerned about this one kid while at the same time several died around the world from starvation, accidents and a host of other things like the swine flu. What this kid needs is a good spanking for spilling the beans. Seeing him on TV makes me think he really needs Ritalin but the Nobel Peace Prize should do just fine.

This whole thing has made me look at several ways I can bring national attention to the deer problem in my yard. As we approach the Christmas Season, I’m thinking about constructing a giant helium filled Santa Claus and sleigh and attach some of the deer in front so they will look like they are actually flying through the air. That may get someone’s attention and I can become famous and get rid of the deer at the same time.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:07:00 +0000

I am very honored to announce that I have received this years Nobel Prize for, “Best Blog.” This is the first year the blog category has been recognized and it is with a great deal of humility that I accept the award. When contacted by the Nobel Prize committee I was told that I was selected because my blog has accomplished absolutely nothing and is read by only a handful of loyal friends. The committee assured me that the criteria for selection was the same as for the Peace Prize. Boy, was I honored! The Peace Prize recipient couldn’t make that statement.

There are several other categories that have been added this year. Some of the new categories are: Best Club Newsletter; Best Get Well Card Greeting; Best Letter To The Editor; Best Bumper Sticker; Best Tee Shirt Slogan; Best Protestor Sign Slogan; and Best Wall Comment on Facebook.

I am especially honored because there are literally millions of people out there writing worthless blogs. I was also pleased because the committee couldn’t figure out if I am a liberal or conservative. They apparently knew I wasn’t Jewish or Muslim or I wouldn’t have been considered.

This is really something else. Now I can join the ranks of some of my heroes like; Hemingway, Steinbeck and Faulkner. I know the current recipient of the Peace Prize must feel the same way. He must be thinking, “gee I’m right up there with people like Jimmy Carter.”

Anyway, it’s a great honor. I understand that my prize will be a coupon for a large bag of fries at McDonalds with purchase of a Big Mac. I do hope they give me a certificate or plaque so I can hang it on the wall of the porch along with the other certificates I have collected since childhood like my “Captain Marvel Club Certificate.”

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:21:00 +0000

We live in a rip off world. I just did battle with a major company over a rebate I was promised after buying a major appliance. After filling out the complicated maze of questions, online, I was notified several weeks later that I didn’t qualify for the rebate. After exploding and several phone calls threatening the company with legal action I received the rebate. It’s a game they play hoping that there is so much of a hassle getting your money that most people just give up and the company chalks this up as additional profit. The rebate game is a technique created by marketing people to sucker the customer in and hopefully make additional profit. I usually play their game because to me it is a game I am set on winning, no matter how difficult it is to claim the prize and no matter how small the prize may be. My enjoyment is playing the game; getting mad, talking to customer relations people on the phone, writing letters and making all sorts of threats. It would be a lot easier on everyone if the folks selling the product would just lower the price for the amount of the rebate at the beginning and not create this frustrating game.

Another rip off is the extended warranty. Every time I buy a piece of electronic equipment they push me to purchase this extended warranty which is another way of making a little extra profit for the company. I suspect that these extended warranties are rarely used. The electronic gadgets are usually under warranty for about a year anyway, and if they are going to break it will happen within that time. Again, it is a major hassle getting something fixed with these warranties. All the retailers use this marketing gimmick weather you are buying a computer, a clock or a car. The auto salesman tries to tack on dozens of things like insurance for dents, and a myriad of other possible defects and mishaps that may occur. Before you are out of the showroom they have added another 10 thousand dollars to the price of the car. I keep hoping that my transmission or air conditioning will go out before the extended warranty expires at 70 thousand miles. In my case they always go out at 71,000 miles. The guys making the cars carefully calculate this so you will then be buying a new vehicle and starting the process all over again.

As I sit on the porch and ponder life I am amazed that my folks never had to deal with warranties or rebates. They didn’t even have health of life insurance. I just don’t know how they lived so long. Life was so much simpler before colleges had marketing majors, but my folks had to deal with highway bandits and others in the trade.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:04:00 +0000

The strategy for conducting the war in Afghanistan has changed. We are now trying to convince the folks that we love them and really don’t mean to go through the villages slaughtering everyone. The average citizen in that country is afraid of the Taliban and apparently don’t want them in power. Our mission is to tell the citizens we are there to protect them from the Taliban. The Taliban are very strict fundamentalist and won’t even let the girls attend school. The Taliban also allows al-Queda to run freely and permit them to have training camps that will launch terrorist attacks against the US and others.

We need more troops to accomplish this new love mission. It would seem hard to tell who is the average Afghan citizen and who is al-Queda. These guys are all covered with facial hair and have sheets wrapped around their body and head. Who is the enemy?

The President is about to permit gays to be open in the military. No more of this hush, hush stuff about no asking or telling. This should greatly increase the number of gays in the military. I have nothing against gays but if I were a member of that group I would prefer to be in San Francisco rather than Afghanistan. The Muslims don’t take to homosexuals very well. They usually behead them after removal of the genitalia. The main advantage of having the homosexuals would be that they would be better able to carry out our new mission of loving the citizens. The main problem will be to have the soldiers stop loving each other so that they will have time for the hairy Afghan men. I don’t know what attracts lesbians to each other but in Afghanistan they are going to have to be satisfied with the eyes because that’s all you can see of their women.

My how times have changed. We used to want mean, bull riding, redneck types in the army. They were better killers. Now we are moving to an army of homosexuals. Maybe there is something we don’t know. The new weapons of mass destruction may be AIDS or other STDs. These weapons may be more effective than the sophisticated stuff we now have. Our current weapons don’t seem to be very effective, so it’s time for a new approach.

The view from the porch is very foggy this morning. That is in keeping with our future and our military presence in Afghanistan. The nice thing about the fog is that I can’t see the deer very well as they destroy my yard.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:23:00 +0000

A report today indicated that there is an increasing number of premature births in the world. There are about 1 millions deaths a year attributed to prematurely. Africa is at the top of the list with the US a close second. About 10% of births are considered premature which is a pregnancy that ends before 37 weeks gestation.

There are a number of factors accounting for this alarming rise in premature babies. The incidence is higher in the lower socioeconomic group who are not healthy and do not get adequate prenatal care. Another major factors is the increased birth rate in teenagers. Prematures are also common in women who have their child at a more advanced age. Women now have a tendency to start a career and then take time off for a baby when they are well into their 40s. Infertility problems with multiple births resulting from the infertility drugs is also another leading cause. C-Section deliveries used to be done only in emergency situations but now are done for convenience and the result is commonly a premature baby.

It’s also amazing what can now be accomplished in the neonatal nursery. Infants as low as 24 weeks gestation survive with all the artificial ventilation support along with the drug surfactant which prevents the lungs from getting the lethal hyaline membrane disease found in the premature lung. Neonatal nurses are highly skilled and the care of these tiny creatures is miraculous.

In the old days the mother came in from the cotton field and had her baby at home. All that was needed was some blankets and boiling water. I have never figured out why they needed the boiling water, but it worked. The babies were strong and were soon out in the field helping the mother and dad on the farm.

Our staggering infant mortality rate in the US from prematurely is often stated as a reason for universal healthcare. We need universal healthcare but it is not going to solve the problem of premature births, stated above. We need a cultural change as much as universal healthcare to improve our health statistics. That cultural change is also needed to reduce our crime rate and to advance our educational efforts.

Japan and Europe do better than the US with life expectancy and infant mortality because they are a more homogenous population with much the same culture and values.

We could take a few lessons from the deer in my back yard. They just drop their fawn in my yard and move on. In a few minutes the fawn is up and on its way. The fawn all seem to be pretty mature. The deer, however, are following many of the habits of the human, which may give some hope for their eventual demise. They are very promiscuous and interbreed, thus weakening their species. They are also becoming a welfare state as they look for handouts from humans who are stupid enough to feed them.

I learn a lot from nature just sitting on my porch. I have also learned to keep my doors locked for the same reasons we have a large number of premature births and a high drop out rate in our schools.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

A few years ago there were places with signs indicating a safe haven. I believe these were places where kids could go if they felt threatened. I haven’t heard much about these places recently but it sounds like there is a greater need than ever for kids to seek safe shelter. It’s tough being a kid. Everyday there is a story about abductions and kids being abused. They are the main victims of sexual perverts, priest and even parents. This week there was a story about a kid who had been kept prisoner in a closet for four years by his mother.

Mob violence in schools is rampant. Chicago is full of horror stories about school violence and then they wonder why they weren’t chosen for the Olympics. The latest is about the honor student who was beaten to death by a gang. Gangs don’t like honor students or those who are trying to do well and become part of society as a productive individual. There is no safe haven for these good kids. They can’t even trust their parents or the church. The jails aren’t big enough to hold the mobs, gangs, perverts, priest, parents and others in the trade of molesting.

I would invite all the kids who feel threatened to my back yard as a safe haven but it isn’t big enough. I think my backyard is a safe haven because the deer must consider it as such. There have been 30 or 40 deer hovered in my yard for the past week. They have apparently heard that hunting season is about to open so they are seeking a safe haven at my place.

I figure most of the threatened kids would feel pretty safe at my place. The gangs who are after them could see all the books on the porch and the love for learning that goes on there and that would scare them away. Gangs hate books. Books to gangs are like an insecticide to a roach.

Molesting parents could get an ear full from my spouse about how she loves our kids and grandkids and wants everything for them. This should scare the abusive parents away. They don’t want to hear about love. The word love is like a shrill high whistling noise to a dog or other animal. It drives them crazy and is a highly effective repellent.

I will give one of my little sermons to the priest and perverts. These folks will usually believe anything you tell them. Most of them feel that they are Jesus or they have directions from the Almighty to impregnate females of all ages. If I grow a beard and wear a robe and speak to them they will definitely believe I am a prophet who is delivering a message from God. I will describe a place for them that will be full of kids for abuse and where they can practice their distorted view of religion. I can lead them to a boat constructed like the Ark, without life rafts, to set sail for this Promised Land, which is located in the ice fields of the North Atlantic. There it will meet the same fate as the Titanic. Good riddance.

Now, I have solved the problem for all the kids who are in the safe haven of my backyard. The only thing I have to do now is get rid of the deer. That is a much harder problem because they are protected by the City of Salado and the State Parks and Wildlife folks. Hopefully, I can finally think of something.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:33:00 +0000

We have been watching the Ken Burns series on the National Parks. It’s great and I wish every American could watch this excellent story of our greatest national treasure.

We have been fortunate enough to visit many of the parks. Even though my father didn’t have a lot, he managed to take me and a high school classmate on one of my most memorable trips after my junior year. For two weeks we traveled through the west, seeing places like Carlsbad Cavern, The Grand Canyon, The Petrified Forest, Rocky Mountain National Park and several of the parks in Utah. It was a grand trip.

In my adult years we have seen multiple parks ranging from Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Everglades, Big Bend, Volcanoes on Hawaii, Smoky Mountains and most of all the national monuments and Battlefields of the Civil and Revolutionary Wars. It has been a grand journey and the television series brought back many great memories. Our favorite is still Yosemite. Now, my book of Ansel Adams photos of the parks takes me back to places like Yosemite without leaving the porch.

The struggle to create the parks has been difficult. We complain about the government but if it had not been for government intervention and regulations the parks that we know would have been raped in the name of progress. In the past it’s like a bunch of greedy wall street bankers had been turned lose on the parks. Forest were devastated, wildlife slaughtered, and rivers polluted in the name of progress. Thank God for the government who helped protect us from ourselves and preserve the natural beauty of our land for generations to enjoy.

The wildlife in many of the parks was nearly destroyed and many species brought to the brink of extinction. Humans either shoot the animals for fun or feed them, which entices them away from their natural habitat. The animals become dependent on humans, which is against the natural order of things. Their predators, like the wolf have also been destroyed which further upsets the balance of nature. Fortunately, the Park Service reversed this trend.

The same has happened with the deer who inhabit my back yard. People who feed them have made them a weak, dependent bunch of scrawny pest who live off our handouts. With all the good things the government has done, unfortunately, it has also made us humans like the deer in my back yard. Many have become dependent on the government for a handout and are unable to hunt for themselves. The whole thing is a paradox. Government is essential for a society but it must also be restrained. One of the great responsibilities of government is to protect us, not only from foreign powers but from ourselves. Like Pogo said, “we have met the enemy and he is us.” That should be another slogan on our currency along with, “In God We Trust.”

Anyway, The National Park series is great. The National Parks are truly our national treasure.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:13:00 +0000

Everyday I ask myself why are we in the Middle East? I know it has to be oil, but I had rather walk than put up with that bunch of maniacs. The people are crazy and irrational. To try and make them a democracy is insane. It just won’t happen. Their rules and beliefs are so different than ours; there is no hope for us understanding each other.

The latest is that in Malaysia, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukamo, a 32 year old female nurse, will be punished by caning and pay a $1,400 fine for drinking a beer at a party. It is against Islamic law to drink alcohol and for a female it is even worse. What kind of society punishes its people by whipping them with a cane? It’s like a joke. Text messaging while driving a car is much worse than drinking a beer. How would they be punished for that? I think beheading would be appropriate.

Yesterday, I heard another good one by this deranged bunch of lunatics. A suicide bomber tried out a new technique, which now poses a great threat to all of us. He stuffed a bomb into his rectum and then detonated it. His family should be awarded the Guinness Book of World Records for the world’s most powerful flatus. It’s going to be hard detecting these nuts when they board airlines. Going through security now means you may have to get a colonoscopy. That should discourage air travel.

The new US military commander in Afghanistan is Stanley McChrystal. He has changed strategies and now says we have to make friends with the people and go down the street shaking hands. There will be no more air strikes to blow up buildings and endanger citizens when we are trying to kill the Taliban or get Osama bin Laden. Good luck. Who is a citizen and who is a Taliban? Also, the government is so corrupt that we will never get those miserable, bearded, dirty folks to alien with us. All the pictures just show them squatting like they are having a perpetual bowl movement. Most are probably planting roadside bombs.

On top of all this we have crazy leaders like Mahmoud Ahmadineiad in Iran who denies the holocaust and just wants to wipe Israel off the planet with his nuclear weapons.

I say that we should just leave the place after bombing the area with Dial soap and razors. How they multiply so fast is beyond me. They are reproducing so rapidly they will soon take over the world. They may even become a threat to the deer in Salado. The next thing you know is that instead of deer in my back yard there will be squatting Muslims, planting bombs in the yard and beating their women for revealing a bit of flesh or drinking a beer.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:32:00 +0000

The Blog has been silent for a week while we were on a trip to Branson. We spent the time at Big Cedar and took in a few shows but tried to avoid the crowds at Branson as much as possible. Big Cedar is in a wilderness like setting and the internet and connection with cyberspace are discouraged. While there, I usually like to sequester myself in a chair and read. There wasn’t a lot of opportunity for reading on this trip but I picked up Dan Brown’s new book, “The Last Symbol.”

In the first few chapters of the book we are introduced to a sinister character who is covered with tattoos. I thought this was rather interesting because I had just purchased the book at a Books-A-Million store from a fat lady who was covered in tattoos. The lady seemed liked she should be part of a motorcycle gang but when ask about certain books she opened up with a knowledge of books that far exceeded the average person. It’s sometimes hard to tell about people at first glance but she was a real enigma.

This book lady, nevertheless, made me think about folks with tattoos. It’s something I have always associated with rough living, motorcycle types. In recent years even housewives get an ornamental tattoo, usually on the ankle. It’s a fad for rebellious, female teenagers to get painted above the cheeks of the buttock across the small of the back or over the back of the shoulder. Even more rebellious ones get a tattoo over the breast or other forbidden areas. Of course, it’s customary for young marines to get a tattoo and this is almost socially acceptable.

I am always reminded of Truman Capote’s experience while writing “In Cold Blood.” Capote interviewed all the serial murderers on death row in the US. He was looking for a common thread or trait among this group. We would have expected them to all be from broken homes, abused as children or drug addicts. None of those things applied to the majority. The thing they had in common was multiple tattoos. So, beware of folks with multiple tattoos are you may find yourself in the morgue.

I am now back on the porch with the Dan Brown book and it’s really a page-turner like his other stories. I haven’t even bothered to see how much the deer have eaten in my absence. “The Last Symbol” is the current bestseller. There is another very old bestseller on the porch that I read. In that great collection of books called the Bible is a book, Leviticus. Leviticus 19:28 says, “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.” Need I say more?

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:31:00 +0000

One of my main jobs in retirement is to pick up the mail at the post office. We have a post office box because the mail carrier will not deliver to a box on our side of the street. Our box would have to be in our neighbors yard and we respect them too much to trash their property. We also prefer the post office because there is less chance for someone pilfering through our mail or some teenager knocking our home mailbox down for the fun.

The mailbox is usually full, but it contains nothing but advertisements, catalogs and bills. There is rarely a letter. No one writes a letter anymore. Communication is by short statements on e-mail or facebook. About the only personal correspondence is a wedding or graduation invitation. Even thank you notes are rare.

When I was a kid, during the war (WWII), one of my main jobs was to go to the post office. We had a box at that time and it was on the top row. I could barely reach the box to insert the key. I would jump to get a good look and make sure I had emptied the box. I loved that job because we were always looking for a letter from my brother or brother-in-law who were in the army. My parents and sister also loved to mail letters and pack boxes full of goodies for mailing.

Letters were the common mode of communication when I was a kid. Telephones were only used for emergencies like death notification. We simply didn’t call long distance unless it was an emergency. Letters were written by hand using real ink from a fountain pen. Ballpoints had not been invented. Letters for airmail were written on tissue thin paper to reduce the weight. Those letter weighed about as much as a couple of feathers. We could mail a regular letter for 3 cents, airmail was 6 cents and penny postcards were popular. Letter writing was fun.

When I visited my aunt and uncle in the country they received no mail except for personal letters. They had no electricity, running water, sewage disposal, garbage collecton, natural gas or any utility. They never had a utility bill. Credit cards had not been invented, so there was nothing from Master Card etc. They had no insurance of any kind, therefore, no insurance bills. Advertising through the mail didn’t exist so there were no catalogues and all the junk we get today. Sears & Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogues were picked up at the catalogue store.

I have been reading the correspondence between Adams and Jefferson. These were beautifully written letters, almost like poetry on very deep subjects like religion and philosophy. How I wish that my mailbox today could be like that of my aunt and uncle or Jefferson and Adams. It would be great to go to the post office and receive well-written letters from friends. That would make great reading for the porch. E-mail and facebook just aren’t the same. It would also be great if a letter still cost 3 cents and all the junk stuff would stop. It’s another part of the world that is Gone With the Wind.

I will just have to be satisfied with facebook, which is a pretty nifty thing. The problem is that most of my friends are too old to learn how to use it. Oh well, they probably couldn’t write a decent letter anyway. I am proud to add, that a few of my high school friends still send me beautifully written letters. Our high school English teacher would be very proud.

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:42:00 +0000

The little community of Salado, where we live, almost washed away this past weekend. We had about 15 inches of rain in 24 hours. Salado Creek became a raging river that engulfed the park. Some folks had to evacuate their homes and others were isolated because of the inundated bridges. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Salado is truly a unique place. It’s been around since the 1850s and was even a dwelling site for the Indians long before then. Folks who live here prefer to call it a village. It was only officially incorporated as a town a few years ago. The name of the weekly newspaper is even called the Village Voice.

The main street of the village is the famous Chisholm Trail, known for the cattle drives through Texas. The trail crosses Salado Creek which is feed by springs, bubbling cold clear water. Indians first discovered this oasis located on the Balcones Fault. Salado sits on the demarcation between the east and western parts of the state. A mile or two to the east is the rich blacklands that is the southern extent of the Great Plains and a mile or two to the west is the rocky, arid land of west Texas.

Salado was the site of a stagecoach stop and the Inn is still there taking us back to the past with its old world ambience. It was a place that saw guest like Robert E. Lee and George Armstrong Custer. Sam Houston made a famous antisecession speech from the balcony. The place has weathered the years and even storms like the current downpour but, unfortunately, the current ownership is inflicting more damage than time or the weather.

Because of its central location, Salado host some special event almost every weekend. It is a favorite spot for weddings and reunions and is the site for meetings of Scottish Clans, Civil War reenactments, antique car shows and a major art show each year. The village lights up each year with a Christmas stroll. There are numerous art galleries and boutique shops filled with all sorts of wearing apparel and expensive goodies for the home. The Institute for the Humanities features several nationally known speakers each year and Music in Salado host a number of artist who match performances in some of the big concert halls in the country. We have a library that is second to none.

There are numerous bread and breakfast establishments and the village was even the site for Jenna Bush’s rehearsal dinner and pre-wedding activities. Horse drawn carriages carry tourist around and the experience is literally a step back into the nineteenth century and a much simpler time.

All of this got a big bath this past weekend. Debris is everywhere but I’m sure the village will recover as it has in the past. I, also, almost forgot to mention that Salado is the home of one of the largest pesky deer herds in the country. To add to our uniqueness, I wish the village alderman would add bear and wolves to the wildlife population in an attempt to thin the deer. We would really be a great tourist attraction if we could just spruce up the wildlife population. At least the view from my porch would be more attractive as I watched tourist who were watching a bear or wolf devour a deer. The other alternative would be to issue guns to the tourist and they could blast away at the deer from the horse drawn carriages

noreply@blogger.com (Dad) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 23:55:00 +0000

I enjoy reading and studying unusual topics. One of my favorite subjects has been the cause of death of the US Presidents. Much that has been written is incorrect because it was based on archaic medical terminology and a limited understanding of disease in times past. Modern medicine didn’t come into being until the twentieth century. The germ theory of disease was not postulated until the end of the nineteenth century. Modern diagnostic medicine including; X-Ray, endoscopy and many laboratory test didn’t come into common usage until well into the twentieth century. Terms like dropsy and bilious fever are no longer used and are listed as causes of death for several Presidents.

We had several presidents die in office including; William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, William McKinley, Franklin Roosevelt and Jack Kennedy. Four of these were assassinated and the medical care of one, James Garfield, was completely botched. The physicians killed Garfield with their unnecessary probing of his wound with their dirty hands in search of a bullet. Jack Kennedy’s autopsy was interesting. There is no doubt in my mind that he was struck by two bullets that came from behind by a lone gunman. The fatal bullet entered the back of his skull and exited on the right side in his parietal region with an explosive force that took much of his brain with it. The bullet that passed through the base of his neck is the same one that entered John Connally.

An interesting death is that of Warren G. Harding. He was a real womanizer. One affair took place in the White House right under the First Lady’s nose. He took a trip to San Francisco with the First Lady and died there of an apparent heart attack. She would not permit and autopsy and many believe that Harding was poisoned by the First Lady.

The interesting thing I found out about Warren G. Harding was that he was greatly concerned about his genealogy and that he might have been partially African-American. So, Barack Obama my not be our first Black or African-American President.

Now we are questioning the place of Obama’s birth. Many are claiming it was in Kenya and that he is not eligible to be President anymore than Arnold Swartzenager. Harding could end up as our only Black President.

As I sit on the porch and reflect about the births and deaths of the various Presidents I have a tremendous respect for the office. We have had some great ones but also some lousy ones like; Harding, Franklin Pierce, Millard Fillmore and James Buchanan. I just hope our current one doesn’t get added to this last bunch. With the way things are going he may wish that Kenya may prove to be his country of origin. The thing I can’t figure out is why anyone wants that job.