living with cancer - transfusions

I sat with my chum during half of the day while he received transfusions. They started at 1400 hours; he wasn't back to his room until 2200 hours. No TV to watch; just the intermittent conversations one overhears in an emergency room setting.
     Toward the end of administration of the second bag of blood [I'm certain there is a more medical sounding term than this] his temperature begins to rise. I don't know much about this so I ask for the nurse to look into it. She comes in and ~ to insure accuracy ~ takes his temp with three different thermometers. He's gone from 99 [upon admission] to 101.7. He groans and says to me that it seems he gets sicker almost every time he goes through this.
     In the process I learn that occasionally people can have reactions to blood, usually causing shivers and a temperature. I guess no one has told him this.
     Apparently, this reaction is common enough that there are even specific procedures and protocols to follow when this occurs. I found a helpful [albeit somewhat dry and technical reading] information page about "Adverse Reactions to Transfusions" on the website of The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. It provided the standard disclaimer: "Warning: This website and the information it contains is not intended as a substitute for professional consultation with a qualified practitioner." Likewise, my discussion here is the same.
     BUT... now I know that this reaction, while certainly not hoped for, is not rare nor abnormal. Just... somebody might want to let you know ahead of time.

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IMAGE CREDIT: Cutbook image from the web page of The Lymphoma & Leukaemia Fund (Wales), affiliated with Singleton Hospital, Swansea, Wales.

original work - Economic Treason

ABOUT THIS ESSAY: I wrote this in 1990, shortly after being laid off from a company known as Colonial Realty Co, which defrauded their shareholders of hundreds of millions of dollars. Arthur Andersen was their accounting firm, and when the ENRON financial scandal hit, it appeared to be the testing grounds for their accounting shenanigans. No way to tell.
     But the focus of the essay was less about frauds against private shareholders, and more about the frauds perpetrated [and perpetuated] against the citizenry as a whole.
     The myths of Capitalism, as practiced and propagandized in the United States, include that anybody can become rich ~ even super-rich. The reality is quite different. Another part of the myth is that resources managed by capitalists rightfully belong to individuals running the corporations that they hide behind.
     In truth, those running corporations are only managers of natural resources [be they mineral ores, farm crops, real estate, labor - even the written word, music and ...ideas] and are not the actual owners. It is humankind that own these resources. The international managerial caste continues to successfully scams - or oppresses - the rest of us so their personal plunders go [largely] unquestioned. Eventually, this standard shall change. Humanity can ill afford to indulge this caste its excesses any more.
     And that is where another premise, the rule of law, comes into place. This essay, and its format, was modeled after the way legislative proposals are brought before governing bodies, upon which they might be enacted. Mind you, I suffer no illusion that our current band of thieves in Congress would even consider such a law, much less enact it. For they, too, are culpable for the end effects of economic destabilization such as we witness today, not only in the USA, but around the world.
     Having said all this, here is the text as shown in the illustrated essay:

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TITLE: AN ACT CONCERNING THE BREACH OF PUBLIC TRUST BY MANAGERS OF MONEY AND RESOURCES WHO HAVE TAKEN, USED AND SPENT SO AS TO PERSONALLY PROFIT FROM THE RESOURCES OF SHARE-OWNERS AND CITIZENS

TEXT: The premise is simple. When certain individuals conduct themselves in a such a way as to jeopardize the economic and social well-being of the community and have done so while personally benefiting simultaneously to the detriment of those who entrusted them with proper management of certain resources, they have then "...endangered the life of the polity..." and, as a result, may have committed Economic Treason.
 • Include that they be held accountable for their actions, and that they be required to pay society for the effects of those actions accordingly.
 • When decision-makers, representatives of the polity, if you will, engage to assist those who violate the sacred trust, they too, must be held accountable. But here we must also address what the legal definitions of involvement may be.
 • There are precedents in history, however unsavory, for the punishment of such crimes were to be meted out against the transgressors.
 • We don't have to follow these methods if the don't seem fit. Perhaps the penalty of death is not sufficient deterrent. For some, forced remediation and reimbursement for their crime for the rest of their life would be a far more brutal punishment, but fitting.
 • Even, possibly, letting the perpetrators apparently go free, but be barred from any professional titles, licenses or certifications or authority; maintaining a very public address without interventions or protections. Let forces take their course. They shall have to deal with their enemies unprotected.

CONDITIONS: THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH IN THE LAWS AS RELATED TO CRIMES OF ECONOMIC TREASON SHALL BE RETROACTIVE UNTIL THE YEAR 1980; SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY; AND SHALL NOT BE SUBJECT TO ANY KIND OF STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS.

fitful wanderings from the web

OUTER SPACE: Monster in the dark! Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are among the most energetic phenomena astronomers regularly observe. These events are triggered by massive explosions and a large amount of the energy if focused into narrow beams that sweep across the universe. These beams are so tightly concentrated that they can be seen across the visible universe and allow astronomers to probe the universe's history.
     Read the whole story on Universe Today.

VIETNAM: At the Bureau of Public Secrets a published excerpt from Ngo Van's IN THE CROSSFIRE: Adventures of a Vietnamese Revolutionary.
     Although the Vietnam War is still well known, few people are aware of the decades of struggles against the French colonial regime that preceded it, many of which had no connection with the Stalinists (Ho Chi Minh's Communist Party). The Stalinists were ultimately victorious, but only after they systematically destroyed all the other oppositional currents.
     This book is the story of those other movements and revolts, caught in the crossfire between the French and the Stalinists, told by one of the few survivors.
     Ngo Van was born in a peasant village in Vietnam in 1912. As a young man he moved to Saigon and became involved in underground struggles against the French colonial regime. In the aftermath of World War II, as most of his comrades were being murdered by Ho Chi Minh's Communist Party, Van escaped to France, where he became a factory worker, a painter, and a historical scholar. Following his retirement in 1978, he devoted the remainder of his life to researching and writing a series of books on the history of modern Vietnam. He died in 2005 at the age of 92.
     UNSOLICITED PLUG! You can order the complete edition of this book from A K Press

CORRUPT COPS: Oh, temptation, such a torment for the weak-willed. A South Carolina cop peddles his drug dog's training dope, an Iowa cop gets caught with a bunch of coke, and a Florida trooper is profiling out-of-state pain patients and stealing their medicine. Read the details at Stop The Drug Wars.

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IMAGE CREDITS: 1- Universe Today ~ Ultra-luminous Gamma Ray Burst; 2- WIKIPEDIA ~ Map of Vietnam

hunting - deer and turkey season begins

Deer archery and turkey bow hunting season will be here sooner that you think.

In Connecticut, season starts on 15th September.

Depending on whether you hunt in the north [9/1/10] or south [9/15/10] zone, the September hunt period for Canada Geese may have started already.

Check the charts.

A NOTE TO LANDOWNERS: Hunters appreciate when you offer permission to hunt on your land, but an oral agreement is not sufficient. If you are allowing someone to harvest those nuisance deer gobbling your landscape, please give us a note in writing. We have to carry it with us. Thanks.

home life - respite

It was difficult to capture this but I did get one decent shot of a praying mantis on Nick's porch screen door yesterday morning at breakfast.

Stayed overnight in West Haven after visiting with BillP at the VA hospital.
He was groggy, and feeling the famed nausea-like effects of chemotherapy.

From there, it was over to Nick's and an overnight respite.

Once settled in as an overnight house guest I was fed a meal of stuffed chicken meats, rice, fresh tomatoes and a not to be duplicated delicious Caesar salad. Dessert was a decadent mix of ultra-rich brownies topped with ice cream and chocolate syrup. Espresso with Sambuca and rind of lemon served on the side.

We watched a show on theories on the end of the dinosaur era and another about Nostradamus and the [potential] end of human days.

After that I fell into a dense sleep.

Breakfast the next morning was an equally sumptuous repast before heading back home to the eastern Connecticut hinterlands.

politics - at the Glen Beck Rally

The interviews seem to speak for themselves