Bushonomics

The key economic factors on day one of Bush's first term compared to today.

January 19, 2001: 10,587.59
September 29, 2008: 10,365.45

NASDAQ Jan 19, 2001 = 2770.38
NASDAQ September 29, 2008 = 1983.73

CPI, January 19, 2001: 175
CPI, September 29, 2008: 219

Dollar exchange with Euro, January 19, 2001: 1.068
Dollar exchange with Euro, September 29, 2008: .695 (from Emptywheel)

How are you feeling eight years later?? McCain promises more of the same.

Head of Skate

Found this gem at Andrew Sullivin's Daily Dish

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Hopefully never coming to a town near you EVER!

Navy Beats Wake Forest

Navy 24, (No. 16) Wake Forest 17

Biden comments on the debate

Well, as they say there were no "game changing" moments in last night's debate, but I think for the undecided voters the outcome was quite decisive. Obama is capable and ready to be president. McCain is grumpy, smug, and condescending. All of the "snap" polls seem to point to an Obama victory last night (CBS, CNN, Fox's focus group)

And the above video also highlights the fact that McCain couldn't trust his running mate to be on TV spinning for him after the debate. That is extremely telling. How can America trust that she's ready to take his place as president when he doesn't even trust her to talk to the press?

Her interview with Katie Couric was just plain sad. Jack Cafferty on CNN nails it -

Recovery update

After several days of concern and several phone calls to the doctor I had an early morning appointment on Thursday to see what's up. The concern was about my leg continuing to bleed and one part of my incision that did not seem to be closing. According to Dr. Brumback I have a hematoma and possibly an infection. He started me on antibiotics as a precaution, sent swabs to the lab to see what they showed and told me to be prepared for the possibility of more surgery on Tuesday when I go in for a follow up. I have been instructed to change the dressing on the incision daily and to lay on my stomach as much as I can to encourage the wound to drain into the gauze dressing. This is not very comfortable and not very easy to do either. So much for this recovery being easier than last time due to having gone through all this before. I'm in uncharted territory and hoping for the best.

On a different note I've gotten great meals this week delivered by some extremely kind and generous folks from church and have had lots of visitors and phone calls. I can not say thank you enough for the many ways that I have been sustained through this very hard week.

Youth Group Video Message

I woke up this morning and flipped on my PC to check my email and read my favorite blogs while I had coffee (my version of the morning paper). I had an email telling me that Connor, one of the high school students that I work with at church, had posted a video to my Facebook profile. I assumed that it would probably be something political since he and his sisters and I share similar opinions and we have previously sent each other links to videos, articles and blogs. Much to my surprise it was the following video that he shot at Youth Fellowship on Sunday night....



I was thrilled with the card that they sent Becky home with, but this video message really made my day. I love these guys so much. Not getting to be with them at Sunday school and Fellowship is one of the things that I miss most while I'm laid up. I can't wait to see them all again.

A bizarre turn of events

I returned home from the hospital on Friday afternoon and on Saturday Danielle was feeling sick and complaining of stomach pains. She spent most of the day in bed and by the evening decided she would go to the ER. An hour later she was home complaining that she was not willing to wait 4 hours to be seen and that she would return Sunday morning if she still felt ill. Yesterday morning the pain was worse and she still felt sick. Once we had someone to babysit me (thanks Mom and Dad) she went back.

At eight o'clock last night she went into surgery and had her appendix removed. Luckily it had not ruptured with all the extra waiting that she did, so she should be release this afternoon. It was very bizarre to find out that she had to have surgery, to be stuck here at home recovering myself and not being there. I spoke to the nurse before surgery last night to make sure that they knew all the medications that she is currently taking, what her medical history is etc. She's got a rather complicated medical history and even though she's an adult I can not help but insert myself into her health care (even while incapacitated myself).

The surgeon called at 9:30 to say that everything went fine and that she would be home Monday afternoon. She will be sore (three holes in your abdomen will do that), but will not need to be waited on as I do. She's not to drive, work, do any housework, etc. for the first three days. It will take about 10-14 days until she'll be back to normal and able to be active again.

So it's a good thing that our couch is L shaped because it will now have two patients recuperating on it...hopefully we can agree on what to watch on TV!

Home again, Home again, jiggety jig

(Title from the nursery rhyme To Market)

So I'm on the other side of surgery and have once again started the healing process. Dr. Brumback was pleased with the way that surgery went and was able to accomplish what he set out to do as far as reshaping and realigning the top of my tibia. He said he got rid of all of the bone filler cement that was used during my last surgery. He was able to rebuild the section with all my own bone stock and didn't need to take any bone graft from my femur (which is where he was planning on taking it from if it was needed). He was able to bend my knee 90 degrees while I was still out. He said that didn't mean that I would be able to get 90 degrees when I started therapy, but it is nice to know that my joint is now capable of that range of motion after surgery. He wants me completely immobile and not bending it for 2 full weeks. He also said that I will be non-weight-bearing for the full three months. So the wheel chair crutches and possibly a walker will be in use until Christmas as I suspected.

The most positive thing he said though was that he feels he has bought me a couple of years before the knee replacement will be necessary. Dr. Brumback doesn't sugar coat anything, as I've said before, and he still tempered that statement with a lot of qualifiers, but after comparing notes with my family we've decided that was the best thing that he said in the whole post-operative briefing.

Union Memorial is a great hospital and if you or a family member needs surgery I'd highly recommend it. The staff was amazing and the policies and procedures that they had in place to ensure proper care were impressive.
There was -

• Charlotte, the Patient Care Advocate that escorted us from registration to the surgical area (pointing out landmarks etc so that finding the way back to the garage, gifts shop, ATM were easy as well as being a very calming presence to all of of us)
• Linda the pre-op nurse
• Linda the anesthesiologist
• Tony,the post-op nurse who talked me through all the things done to me in a post-anesthesia fog and wheeled me up to my room
• Wendy the Nurse Tech who brought me fresh gowns, toothpaste, wash clothes and deodorant both days. She was really funny and got a kick out of me spilling a bottle of mouthwash all over the place. Boy was my whole room minty fresh.
• My nurses - Vicky, Katie, Anna, Stephanie, and Priscilla
• Diana - the PT lady who worked with me to get out of bed, use my crutches or a walker and made sure I was safe to get around at home
• Carol Ann the social worker who made sure that CVS ordered the blood thinner I was going to need filled when I got home
• Melissa and the pretty red head who were Physicians Assistants who changed my dressing, remove my drainage tube and put me in my fancy new brace.
• The food services ladies whose names unfortunately I can't remember.

There were more people that made my stay what it was and I am truly thankful to each and every one of them.

So far the pain management seems OK although I'm trying to find the happy medium between a tolerable level of discomfort and causing the troubling withdrawal effects that I experienced last time. I want to be as pain free as possible without overdoing it with the narcotics. I mentioned the blood thinner medicine above. I have to give myself shots in the stomach twice daily for the next month to gaurd against clots and some very serious problems with leg surgery and remaining immobile. I was pretty freaked out when they first started giving them to me in the hospital and even more so when they told me I'd be continuing them at home, but it really isn't that bad. They don't hurt much at all and they gave me a little kit with an instructional video, a log book and my own little medical waste container to discard the syringes.

I'm feeling pretty good although I'm sure I'm forgetting key details that I want to relate. What can I say, I've been on a lot of drugs recently and I'm still a bit foggy. Can't wait to see and talk to everyone, but wanted to put this out to let everyone know I'm OK and to say thanks for all the well wishes and prayers. They are much appreciated.

About 9 hours to go...

until my surgery.

Today has been a good day and I'm as ready as I'm gonna be.

I slept in and then took a nice long shower and washed the dreads (it'll be a little hard to do that for a few days at least). My pastor (who also happens to be my boss and a good friend) came over and visited for about an hour.

I listened to Les Miserables, visited all my favorite blogs, and chatted with friends via phone, email, and on Facebook.

Danielle and I went to see Burn After Reading tonight. Its pretty funny. On the Coen brothers' movie spectrum I'd put it somewhere between The Big Lebowski and Fargo (with Raising Arizona being on the absurdly funny side and No Country for Old Men being on the super serious side of that spectrum). It has a great cast and is full of very quirky characters in very serious situations. The subject matter - espionage, extra-marital affairs, and blackmail are no laughing matter, but in the hands of Joel and Ethan Coen you just can't help but laugh at them.

I had a nice dinner from The Main Ingredient and Taffy brought me a large fountain Coke from McDonald's.

I will need to be up by 4am in order to get to Baltimore by 5:30am as instructed, so I probably should wrap this up, since I've got to start getting stuff together to take to the hospital and try to get some sleep.

Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers. They have and will continue to sustain me as I go through this. I'll be posting again as soon as I'm home (which should be Thursday or Friday afternoon).

Peace be with you all.

New Obama attack ad....

2 Days...

until surgery.

I was wiped out last night so I had no problems falling asleep. A rare occurrence these days.

I was awoken a bit early though by a call from my primary care doctor's office. It seems my thyroid levels are a bit high again and I've been instructed to take double my dose 4 days a week. I confirmed that they have faxed all the required papers to Union Memorial and I don't know yet if these results will have any bearing upon surgery. I plan to follow up with Dr. Brumback's office today to make sure that they have all the papers, that Worker's Comp gave the thumbs up and to ask a few additional questions that have come up. I really hope that this doesn't require postponing. As much as I am dreading it, I want to get it over with. I'm ready to move out of this limbo phase and start healing again. Several areas of my life have been on hold for months and I've got shit I want to do!

3 days...

until surgery. Actually, this has been such a busy day and I'm posting so late that it is practically down to two. It was good to be busy today (and last night too).

Our church had Rally Day last Sunday. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, that is when we switch back from the summer schedule of earlier worship services to slightly later services and resume education hour and begin our program year concurrent with the school year. For Rally Day we hold a Mission & Ministry Fair for the various groups and committees to showcase what they do. We also introduce the Sunday school teachers, register kids and youth and then have a picnic in the afternoon for everyone to socialize and reconnect with folks that you may or may not have seen much over the summer.

So today was the first official day of Sunday school and tonight was the Youth Fellowship Group's kickoff event. Needless to say, this is one of the big days each year for me in my role as Director of Youth Ministries.

For the education hour I combined the Middle School and High School classes and had all the teachers, Becky and myself lead a special service to celebrate (or contemplate - for those not so enthusiastic) the new school year. It is a service that I got from a book called The Book of Uncommon Prayer, Volume II by Steven L. Case. I tried this last year for the first time and it seemed to go over well, so I decided to do it again this year. The service itself talks about new beginnings and how it is a matter of how you choose to look at things and that once you have begun you simply must choose to keep going. The scripture passages are the first few sentences of some of the most famous stories in the Bible starting with creation, going through both testaments and ending with the Resurrection. The focal point when the youth enter the room and all during the service is a wall constructed of paper from floor to ceiling and one side of the room to the other. This wall symbolizes all that is holding them back, keeping them from their potential and more literally last year. To emphasize this point Becky and I made the wall out of last year's flip charts. There were notes from Sunday school lessons, brainstorming sessions for Youth Sunday Planning, stuff from our 30 Hour Famine and more. This is a picture of last year's wall.

So after hearing the beginnings of all these stories and having the "wall" explained to them we cut a door in the "wall" and one by one the youth are invited to come forward, step through the wall and proclaim "God makes all things new." After a closing prayer the group (especially the middle school boys) really gets a kick out of the more cathartic and violent tearing down of the wall. (Note to self - next year must have Pink Floyd CD on hand to play the "Tear Down the Wall" refrain at the end of The Trial for new ad libbed ending) We then had some donuts and fruit while we did introductions and talked about what we would be doing in the coming months. There is definitely room for improvement, but all in all it was well received and a good start to the year.

After worship service I received well wishes for surgery from more people than I can remember. I also got to spend time with Hayley, Connor and their mother Lisa while they waited for their foreign exchange student.

Tonight we had our first Youth Fellowship event in the courtyard of our church campus. There were 12 youth and 3 adults in attendance and we had a great time getting to know each other with the help of a really cool beach ball that I was introduced to last month by some other youth workers in the Baltimore Presbytery. The beach ball has questions randomly written all over it. We formed a circle and tossed the ball around. When it came to you, you had to introduce yourself, read the question that was closest to your thumb and then answer it. The questions ranged from - "Do you prefer the Mountains or the Beach, defend your answer" to "What's the best advice that you got that you wish you had taken?" to "If Jesus where to come to your town, where do you think he would spend his time?" It was a big hit and I'm sure we'll get a lot of use out of it. For dinner we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. I gave Donovan a ride home and got to see his brother Dan and confirm that he is psyched for Confirmation Class this year and that he still wants me to be his Confirmation Covenant Partner.

A big thanks to Lisa Allison for serving as burger flipper and dog turner, for the parents and youth who sent along side dishes, cup cakes and other goodies, and of course to Becky, who does more things than I can list.

Things could have gone smoother and there are definitely areas on which I would like to improve, but the overwhelming feeling I have after today is "I love my job." I can't believe I get paid to participate in something I love to do, interact with some really great people, and eat good food. How lucky am I?

4 days...

until surgery.

Les MisBarack!

5 days...

until my surgery.

Went to my primary care doc this morning for a pre-operative physical and blood work. Wasn't much of a physical. Mainly he just had to fill out paperwork about the medicines that he has prescribed to me and my history, allergies etc. Then I was off to LabCorp for blood work. It was really vile! Thanks Mom for the spelling correction to yesterday's post. What can I say, I was a math major and spellchecker doesn't catch homonyms.

Apparently my left arm is empty from yesterday's "type and screen" because the technician couldn't get any blood to draw up into the tube (easier to spell than "vial"). So she tried again on my right arm and was successful. Now I look like a heroin addict with all the track marks on my arms. Except I think usually heroin addicts don't look as well fed as I do.

Oh, I learned a new term from Dr. Lowe today. He said what I was having done was called an O.R.I.F. - Open Reduction Internal Fixation. I'd say Orthopedics Really Isn't Fun.

6 Days....

until surgery. Today I went up to Union Memorial and had my blood typed and screened so that they are ready to give me a transfusion if necessary.

It was pretty quick and they've got lots of procedures set in place to verify and re-verify that you are who you say you are and double and triple checking that the right name is with the right vial so that if needed they've got the right blood. I was sent home with a sealed envelope that I had to sign that has copies of the paperwork that went with my blood and has a bracelet with the bar code and numeric sticker that was on my vial. I am to present it to them when I arrive on Wednesday morning.

When I got home I got a call from the hospital for a pre-admission interview. They double checked all the info that they have on me and said it would streamline the process when I got there on Wednesday morning.

Each of these steps is helping me to accept the inevitability of what I'm about to do. I've got my physical with my primary care doc in the AM and then will be off to get my blood work done. After that I'm hoping for a enjoyable and relaxing weekend.

The Coen brothers' new movie (Burn After Reading) comes out tomorrow, so I hope to fit that in before Wednesday. They are responsible for some of my all time favorite movies (Raising Arizona, O Brother Where Art Thou, Fargo, The Big Lebowski) so I hope that this one lives up to their past offerings.

After two weeks, finally something other than the same stump speech

So bits and pieces of the ABC interview with Gov. Palin are trickling out on the web and I must say it isn't the complete puff piece that I thought it would be. Its not exactly as hard hitting as I think it should be either, but Gibson didn't give her the total Barbara Walter's soft focus treatment either. At least not in the few clips I've watch and read so far.

He starts in with the biggest question that we should be asking about who each of the candidates has chosen to be their running mate - Is the VP nominee actually qualified to be President?

Sarah Palin on Experience:
GIBSON: Governor, let me start by asking you a question that I asked John McCain about you, and it is really the central question. Can you look the country in the eye and say "I have the experience and I have the ability to be not just vice president, but perhaps president of the United States of America?"

PALIN: I do, Charlie, and on January 20, when John McCain and I are sworn in, if we are so privileged to be elected to serve this country, will be ready. I'm ready.

GIBSON: And you didn't say to yourself, "Am I experienced enough? Am I ready? Do I know enough about international affairs? Do I -- will I feel comfortable enough on the national stage to do this?"

PALIN: I didn't hesitate, no.

GIBSON: Didn' that take some hubris?

PALIN: I -- I answered him yes because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can't blink.
So I didn't blink then even when asked to run as his running mate.

This exchange is frighteningly Bush-like. No thinking. No humility. Afraid to admit to even a moment of doubt. Personally I don't want someone "wired in a way of being so committed to the mission" that they think the act of BLINKING is a problem. I would hope that after the last eight years the rest of the country would feel the same. Now we know that neither she nor John McCain put very much thought into this decision.

There are limitless examples of great leaders who weren't any less great because they stopped and said "Me? Really? Can/should I actually do this?" Moses and George Washington immediately come to mind. Joe Biden actually admitted that Hillary might have been a better choice than himself yesterday. What is it about the mentality of a large segment of our society that sees that as weak and her and Bush's approach as admirable?

I also really wish Gibson had followed up that with "What is the mission?" "Tell me about this reform, besides earmarks" and please "define victory in the war." There were a whole lot of words there without saying a damn thing.

The section that shows that she isn't ready to be on the national and international stage more than any so far though is when she does not know what the "Bush Doctrine" means and tries to BS her way through the answer. Gibson really calls her out on it. This is the most major shift in US international policy in the last century - Preventative war! and she doesn't even know what he is talking about.

Chances are she'll get a pass on this from many, but if the media and patriots in both parties are honest about this exchange this could and should be the end of the illusion that she is ready to be President of the United States.

Update: Andrew Sullivan and I are on the same wavelength regarding her decision making skills. Read his post George W. Palin.

Lipstick on a pig

They can call themselves reformers as much as they want. That doesn't make it so. Especially when all the evidence out there proves the opposite. She obviously wasn't against earmarks enough to send any of the money back that came directly from earmarks. She sang the praises of Alaska's Congressional delegation and their abililty to direct money to her city and state. She supported Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens vigorously until it became a problem to do so.

“John McCain says he’s about change, too — except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics. That’s just calling the same thing something different.”
With a laugh, he added: “You can put lipstick on a pig; it’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change; it’s still going to stink after eight years.”

7 Days...

until surgery.

8 Days..

Until my surgery. I'm trying to think of all the things I want to do while I can still drive and walk (sort-of). Anyone want to do dancing?

Some trivia about tropical storms, hurricanes, typhoons etc.

Last night at Jen's graduation party (to celebrate her earning her masters -- Yeah Jen!!!). We got to talking about storms and some basic questions were tossed around. We all had ideas and thought we knew some of the answers, but none of us was confident that we were an authority. So, I was assigned the task of finding those answers and blogging them for all to see since I have all this free time on my hands.

So from The Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) if found out the following --

What's the difference between Hurricane and Typhoon?

The terms "hurricane" and "typhoon" are regionally specific names for a strong "tropical cyclone". A tropical cyclone is the generic term for a non-frontal synoptic scale low-pressure system over tropical or sub-tropical waters with organized convection (i.e. thunderstorm activity) and definite cyclonic surface wind circulation (Holland 1993).
Tropical cyclones with maximum sustained surface winds of less than 17 m/s (34 kt, 39 mph) are called "tropical depressions" (This is not to be confused with the condition mid-latitude people get during a long, cold and grey winter wishing they could be closer to the equator ;-)). Once the tropical cyclone reaches winds of at least 17 m/s (34 kt, 39 mph) they are typically called a "tropical storm" and assigned a name. If winds reach 33 m/s (64 kt, 74 mph)), then they are called:

"hurricane" (the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E)

"typhoon" (the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the dateline)

"severe tropical cyclone" (the Southwest Pacific Ocean west of 160E or Southeast Indian Ocean east of 90E)

"severe cyclonic storm" (the North Indian Ocean)

"tropical cyclone" (the Southwest Indian Ocean)

Do they rotate different directions? and what was that myth about water out of a sink or toilet depending on where you are on the earth?

The reason is that the earth's rotation sets up an apparent force (called the Coriolis force) that pulls the winds to the right in the Northern Hemisphere (and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere). So when a low pressure starts to form north of the equator, the surface winds will flow inward trying to fill in the low and will be deflected to the right and a counter-clockwise rotation will be initiated. The opposite (a deflection to the left and a clockwise rotation) will occur south of the equator. NOTE: This force is too tiny to effect rotation in, for example, water that is going down the drains of sinks and toilets. The rotation in those will be determined by the geometry of the container and the original motion of the water. Thus one can find both clockwise and counter- clockwise flowing drains no matter what hemisphere you are located. If you don't believe this, test it out for yourself.

Bottom line, I'm glad that Hanna decided to stop raining on Maryland in time for Jen's outdoor party. Craig, you know how to do it right and Jen congratulations on finishing your degree.

Samantha Bee has some fun at the Republican Convention

It amazes me that conservatives while being pro-life will continue to point to Gov Palin's decision to have a baby with Down Syndrome and now her daughter's decision to have her baby and marry her boyfriend as being so admirable.

Nothing like a little Daily Show satire to drive that point home though-

Walter Reed Middle School backdrop to McCain's speech

In light of this strange photo confusion with the Walter Reed Middle School a thought occurred to me – perhaps they actually did vet Gov. Palin, but because their attention to detail is so poor they didn’t find out any of the things that the rest of the blogosphere and media was quickly able to come up with.

A little misspelling here or there….perhaps they interviewed people who know a different Sarah Palin.

Perhaps they got confused and vetted Gov. of Arizona Janet Napolitano instead. Honest mistake – she’s a woman, its McCain’s home state. She’s right below Palin in the alphabetical list of Governors (by state).

It would certainly explain no one showing up in Alaska until the last minute. He had a deadline. He wanted to announce Friday morning to step on Obama’s headlines and wasn’t going to change that.

I can see the staff now when she showed up for the final face to face with McCain and the top aides – “That’s her? Oh, crap! That’s not who we’ve been looking into.”

They’ve been scrambling ever since.

Surgery is scheduled

I received a call this morning from Dr. Brumback's assistant, Marge, and we scheduled surgery for Wednesday September 17th at 7:30am (which means I have to be there at 6am).

She's mailing me a package with instructions and paperwork that has to be completed by my primary care doctor. I was able to schedule an appointment for a pre-operative physical for next Friday the 12th with Dr. Lowe (my PCP). I also have to go up to Union Memorial next week and get my blood typed and screened.

I will be admitted to the hospital and kept for at least one night, possibly two. Marge was a little surprised that I asked and even more so to hear that I had been sent home after the first surgery. Danielle, my parents and I are very relieved to know that this is the plan. That first night was pretty scary - probably more for them than it was for me.

After almost two months of knowing that I was going to have surgery again, now it is set and I've got twelve more days of waiting.

Two great quotes

I know I just posted an item saying we should focus on McCain and the big differences between the tickets. But I was just reading some items about Mrs. Palin's screecher of a speech last night and I just had to share these two quotes and links to great commentary -

My high school had pep rallies, too. We still sucked. (by occams hatchet @ Daily Kos)

and

"Jesus was a Community Organizer, and Pontius Pilate was a Governor."

(From the post Palin-polooza Wrap Up @ Mudflats).



Makes me want to give more money to the Obama Campaign. How about you?

Leg Update...no date yet for surgery

I was told that I would hear from the doctor on Tuesday, but he didn't call until this morning.
He had a chance to review the CT scan that was done after my appointment. He reiterated his assessment of my leg and the salvage operation that he proposed two weeks ago today with the same disclaimers about no more range of motion or any less pain. Finished with "well, think it over and call me when you make a decision."
My reply was immediate - "I already made my decision. I want to go ahead and schedule this and I have a few questions."
My questions were -

1) Should I be concerned about continuing to put weight on it? Is a cane with my brace OK? Should I use crutches? with or without any weight on that leg?
His reply - was that if this was going to be a long while before I did anything then, yes he would be concerned about damage to the bottom of my femur. With the tibia, the damage is already done. I really can't make that any worse. Since I'm going ahead soon he said not to worry about it and to continue to let my pain and/or comfort level determine how much weight I put on it.

2) What about physical therapy? Should I do the step down program?
His reply - no need to waste my time with that right now. It isn't going to bend any more than it is right now due to the alignment. (and again, no promise that it will bend any more after this operation)

3) What's he going to use to rebuild that section?
His reply - as much of the bone that is there that he can and bone graft. As well as screws and a new plate to hold it in place while it heals.

So with those questions answered and the only one left being "when can we do this?" I was told to expect a call from his assistant.
A week after I have made my decision to move forward and I'm waiting on yet another call to look at the calendar and start the wheels rolling with worker's comp. approval for the surgery.

I'll update when I have a date (assuming that I get a date with this next phone call). Maybe I should expect that the next phone call will only lead to me waiting for yet another phone call. That seems to be the pattern right now.

No Change

Despite the fervor over Gov. Palin in the media and here in the blogosphere (I admit it was pretty hard for me not to get swept up in it) we need to remember that in addition to the poor decision making skills this shows for Sen. McCain that the issues and the contrast between Obama and McCain are the same as they were before Friday --

Two great advertisements from the Obama camp -




Its time to step back and refocus efforts on the larger issues that this has always been about. John McCain is promising more of what George Bush has given us for eight years.

Barack Obama is promising real change.

I've been thinking about a comment that my brother-in-law made the other day a lot. He was hoping for more specifics from Obama on Thursday night about policy issues and what the "Change" will look like. I'll concede that we might not have gotten nitty gritty details, but I think the change that he is offering is crystal clear -

• He will not do foreign policy like Bush.
• He will not give tax breaks to the wealthiest 5% of our citizens.
• He will not allow the middle class to suffer disproportionately
• He will not allow the torture that is being done in our name.
• He will not continue the war in Iraq.
• He will not be beholden to special interest groups or religious extremists.
• He will not appoint people to the Supreme Court (or other key positions like VP) just to satisfy his base.
• He will not allow us to continue to be beholden to foreign oil or to pretend that we can come up with enough of our own oil to solve the problem.
• He will not plan to dismantle Social Security and attempt to hand it over to the "private sector"
• He will not leave 47 million Americans without health care.
• He will not work to overturn Roe v. Wade.

John McCain WILL. He will offer you what Bush has given us for the last eight years. What kind of "reform" is that?

Will she last the week?

The Palin story just keeps getting better (or worse) depending on your perspective.

Honestly, I think it'll be amazing if the RNC Convention actually nominates her and officially puts her on the ticket this week. It looked like a hasty pick on Friday, but now it looks like they didn't do any vetting of her at all. Greg Sargent has a complete breakdown over at TPM -

• Trooper/Wooten-gate (abuse of power scandal)
• Was big supporter of the "Bridge to Nowhere" and congressional pork for Alaska in general, despite claims made in her speech. i.e. She lied in her introductory speech to the nation.
• Helped fund raise for 527 for Ted "Under Indictment" Stevens
• Was almost recalled as mayor for firing people who didn't politically support her
• Was a member of Alaska Independence Group that wants to secede from USA and/or doesn't think vote to make Alaska a state was legit.

The picture on the front page of Talking Points Memo next to the headline "Off The Rails: Sarah Palin's Very Bad Day" is priceless

And although I find it all quite fascinating, in a Jerry Springer/Maury Povich kind of way, I'm not even going to touch either baby controversy (the one she had in April or the one her pregnant teenage daughter is carrying now). Other than to say --I thought the McCain camp had some young whipper snappers pulling up THE GOOGLE for him.

Never mind, I can't help myself. It was pretty easy for folks to find some pretty bizarre questions that surrounded the Governors surprise pregnancy and really strange choices regarding her and baby Trig's safety the day he was born.

UPDATE: What did I tell you the other day? I am ready to contact Rachel Maddow and ask for a spot on her new MSNBC show. We think alike.