Cheney gets new heart, but new soul rejected

they tried to transplant a new soul into cheney, only his new heart rejected it.....Fire bad, cheney good.......

Who's better dancer, george W or Pres. Obama?

Here is george, dear god, make him stop dancing with African performers.  And here is Pres Obama on the Ellen show dancing, after he throws a right overhand.

Ok, Obama's got my vote. he sings the blues, "sweet home chicago,"

Romney sings America the Beautiful (all the verses) and Santorum sings.....god only knows...but Obama sings the blues, "Sweet Home Chicago."  and "Let's Stay together" the al Green song.  And, he shoots long jump shots too

this guy is Thomas jefferson, we are in for the 21st century Era of Good Feelings, he will be followed by Madison and Monroe,  the Republicans have nothing on this guy.  

will the real Rick Santorum please stand Up???? Republican culture wars are back!

Ok from the top: rick santorum in high school disguised as "McLovin."  Rick preaching in a turtle neck and sports coat.  Rick in his sweater vest - smoking'    and finally, Rick as a radical hippie college student (not really, the beard and long hair thing was popular with the babes).  so who do we get?  McLovin?  the hip roman catholic priest in a turtle neck?  Mr. Sweater vest, or Mr. frat from Animal House?

One thing Rick has taught Romney and Obama: its not about the economy, nor is it about jobs.  its about culture.  rick has brought back the culture wars of the George W. years.  Remember?  It was all about culture, not about iraq war, wall street, mortgage back securities and housing price inflation, not about the deficit, not even about mis management of Iraq and Afghanistan military action ---- it was about morality, culture.  Bush's cowboy boots, his phoney southern accent, his phoney shallow right wing born again brain injured pseudo faith (his mother DID drop him on his head as a child, true story).

so here we are: Obama isnt a Christian, obama wants amniocentesis funded by health care reform act so more mothers can abort their genetically deformed children (yes, Obama is looking for ways to increase abortions and have the american people pay for it with deficit spending), - all this culture stuff, even the sweater vest is culture statement.  

Leaving for Nicaragua in 4 days

I will be in Nicaragua for about 10 days over spring break, doing health assessment in Managua and some rural areas.  we are mostly undergrads, with myself and another 2nd degree nursing student, and several faculty.  We are staying in a hotel in managua for most of the time.  We get at least part of one day on a beach, so it won't be all work.  I am looking forward to this:  i have never been in a 3rd world country before, and this is something i think i want to do in the future: international nursing.

Here is daniel Ortega, current PM of Nicaragua

He was elected once before, then the US tried to overthrow him by supporting a right wing contra army.  US congress eventually shut off funding they didnt like overthrowing constitutional democracies in latin america, i mean whats the alternative?  Somoza family dictatorship that ran Nicaragua like a plantation system?  Controlled by American fruit companies?  So Reagan decided to fund the Contra's by selling surface to air missiles to Iran during the Iran-Iraq war (we were supporting both sides, selling arms to both sides, fuck em all i guess) and then taking the profits, laundering the money, and sending it to the contras.  Ah, democracy.

So Ortega held another election, lost, became the opposition, and he won election again, as a new, recycled candidate (how American!)  here are some murals, very cool:

I am leaving my two che Guevara t shirts home, i dont want to wear them in Nicaragua, might give wrong idea about Pittsburgh catholic nursing students.  But i am looking forward to this adventure.

I am going to Sams Club today to buy boxes of multi vitamins, and childrens shoes and clothes.  I plan to pack both my suitcases with extra nursing supplies contributed by my fellow nursing students and shoes and clothes.

I keep thinking about Fielding Mellish in the movie Bananas.......might i end up like him?????

Or like this guy?

Sarah Palin: tanned, rested and ready for the GOP Convention

above is sarah palin with her husband's dog sled team.  She is the real deal, I mean, she dog sleds in Alaska.  Hunts Elk, bear.  Ok, she also hunts wolves from a helicopter (I think wolves should be armed if they are going to be hunted from the air, at least make it a sporting event).  here is sarah announcing sports earlier in her career. She is a good shot:

she really does fire automatic weapons, but this is not a real photo.  could be though.  So i have this strange attraction to Sarah Palin.  Maybe it lies deep in my childhood, some traumatic event, who knows.  But the latest news is that she thinks the GOP convention maybe brokered: that means, no one will have a majority of delegates, so there will be more than one vote.  Kinda like the GOP convention of 1860, where Lincoln eventually won after his supporters "sold" cabinet positions for votes.  Anyway, she doesnt rule out a future run for office.  Does this mean she is throwing in her hat for President at a brokered convention?  Could she be the next GOP president to deal with a "team of rivals" like Lincoln had to deal with?  Hey, we all know how that turned out: "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"  Ok, sick joke.

So what is this about?  I know:  LOW RATINGS for ROGER AILES cable news shows!  Yes, sarah is a paid media celebrity, and the more controversy she can generate the more people watch FOX news.  This is the ultimate is bullshit journalism (which is all we have lately) - not only do the networks MANUFACTURE news, but they hire politicians as reporters-celebrities, and then instruct them how to make news to increase ratings, sell more advertising, make more money.

So what is politics in the USA today?  A way of making lots of money.  Its not unlike third world nations that have no real economy other than foreign investment and foreign aid and UN relief money:  you run for office, get elected, and divide up the loot.  I mean Richard cheney did that as VP- he was our first contractor who was in the Executive Branch.  You can make alot of money when you control the contracts.  Did cheney get paid by contractors while VP?  Kinda.  he had blind investments that benefited from his policies.  But he obviously made money after his stint as Sec of Defense - hes making lot of money now too.  I listened to a patients heart with a pump valve like cheney's - thump whooosh, thump whooosh.......the guy literally has a strange heartbeat, of course, we knew that about cheney even before his operation.

Ok, Sarah, make your money.  You can spend it all in the next life, right?

latest news: Romney DIDNT win Maine, Ron Paul won

Now we know that Romney didnt win Iowa, Santorum did (he surged from behind). Believe it or not, breaking news is that Romney now didnt win Maine, Ron Paul did!  Unbelievable.  We dont know who wins these damn dumb primaries until weeks later.  Dont you love voting in a democracy?  Trouble is, we dont know how to count votes.  Maybe Castro should send some Cuban electoral watchers here to make sure our elections are fair, and the votes are counted properly!   (Castro volunteered to send observers to Florida in 2000 to help oversee the vote recount, to make sure it was fair - funny!)  

this is BS - the purple states are Obama states

this horse race crap has got to end.  Dan rather was on the news, yes he is still out there, and was covering the republican primaries like horse races.  most have no delegates at stake so they are beauty contests and meaningless in terms of nominating convention.  Dan is known for his horse race analogies for presidential elections:  once he used a metaphor about a hot texas night in a parking lot.....i cant remember, it was way over the top.  I mean, we need excitement here, people.  So the above map shows a dead heat!  a neck and neck horse race to the finish line! give  me a break.  Obama will get re elected unless......he is found in bed with a dead girl or a live boy.    those purple states are obama states.  the republicans are doing everything they can to self destruct.  Santorum is the next Reagan;  we thought George W was the next Reagan.  the republicans are looking for their next Reagan, fact is, Reagan is dead, he had one crappy term, his second term was scandelous.  remember the savings and loan fiasco?  George HW Bush bailed us out of that.  then we put up with George W and the housing inflation loosey goosey wall street bundling of mortgage backed securities (junk bonds in disguise, they were sold with insurance policies!!!).  I think we are entering a period of the Era of Good Feeling II:  like the one after Jefferson.  We'll get madison, monroe, and then....John Quincy?  well at least madison and monroe.  thats 16 years after Obama's second term.  maybe there is hope after all.  So contribute money to Santorum ( he is surging!) or to Gingrich, pour gas on the fire.

US Marines recruiting video - funny but very effective ! do you like pistachios?

US Marines recruiting video, not used.  With some editing i think it would be very effective.  very funny but it gets creepy with the jessica lynch stuff.  but i can see lots of guys wanting to serve with Jupiter Jones. he cool.

i think the actor is Ricky Lomax, who supposedly is a real US marine veteran.  He is member of screen actors guild, listed as a veteran.  he is very convincing.   

Memphis Tenn, 2nd dangerous, 12 th most miserable city in the US

Way to go School of urban Affairs, univ of Memphis !!!
2nd most dangerous city
12 the most miserable city.

map of binge drinking

I wrote a book chapter celebrating (?) the 75th anniversary of the publication of Andrew Carnegie's commissioned book, "Alcohol Control."  His book was written by his commission, funded by him, to show state governments how they could control the sale and distribution of Alcohol once prohibition was repealed.  He was an alcoholic, leading member of the anti saloon league.  (I got paid $3000 for a  31 page chapter, the most i have ever made at writing.) anyway, as you can see from the map, Pennsylvania is one of the biggest binge drinking states in the US.  Who cares?  ATOH (alcohol) is one of the few drugs that can penetrate the blood brain barrier, the only drug i believe that can be purchased over the counter, if you are 21 yrs old, or have a fake ID.  So what?  Alcohol can sedate the vagus nerve, which controls breathing.  so you can die from binge drinking, because you can stop breathing.  as someone who once had an allergic reaction and almost stopped breathing, i can testify that breathing is very important, especially if you ever faced not breathing and lived to tell about it.  Woody Allen once said that his brain was his second most favorite organ:  after my anaphylactic shock, i can safely say that my brain is my third most favorite organ, and my lungs my most favorite.  you can guess at number two.  anyway, binge drinking is a killer, and anyone who binge drinks needs counseling fast.  binge drinking is 5 drinks for a man, or 4 for a woman, drunk in a short period of time.  binge drinking can be minutes (chugging contests) or days.  binge drinking can be a measurement of society's decay, or social depression or social anxiety; for example, after the fall of the soviet union, binge drinking in Russia dramatically increased, life expectancy decreased, diseases of alcoholism (coronary and heart disease, cirrohsis), increased.  So what is wrong Pennsylvania?  how come so many of us are sedating ourselves with over the counter alcohol?  state wide depression?  Social anxiety?  Freud wrote a book, "Civilization and its Discontents" about societal mental illness, how a society can become psychotic (think Nazi Germany, think.....Khmer Rouge, the 700 club, Oral Roberts University, PA state system of higher education....)  can there be a societal anxiety in PA that leads its citizens to sedate themselves?  jesus, just writing about this makes me want to drink, but i am trying to lose the 8 lbs i gained last semester so nooooooo)

Just noticed: binge drinking increases with longitude.  binge drinking increases the further north you go.  this is also true around the globe: highest levels of alcoholism in countries closest to the artic circle.

And south dakota and tennessee have no data, i guess the state statiticians were too drunk to send in the numbers.

The Rabbi's Gift: A Parable about building a culture of respect

The story concerns a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. It was once a great order, but because of persecution, all its branch houses were lost and there were only five monks left in the decaying house: the abbot and four others, all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order.

In the deep woods surrounding the monastery there was a little hut that a rabbi occasionally used for a hermitage. The old monks could always sense when the rabbi was in his hermitage.  It occurred to the abbot that a visit the rabbi might result in some advice to save his monastery.

The rabbi welcomed the abbot to his hut. But when the abbot explained his visit, the rabbi could say, "I know how it is" . "The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore." So the old abbot and the old rabbi wept together. Then they read parts of the Torah and spoke of deep things. When the abbot had to leave, they embraced each other. "It has been a wonderful that we should meet after all these years," the abbot said, "but I have failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me that would help me save my dying order?"

"No, I am sorry," the rabbi responded. "I have no advice to give. But, I can tell you that the Messiah is one of you."

When the abbot returned to the monastery his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, "Well what did the rabbi say?" 

“The rabbi said something very mysterious, it was something cryptic. He said that the Messiah is one of us. I don't know what he meant?"

In the time that followed, the old monks wondered whether the significance to the rabbi's words. The Messiah is one of us? Could he possibly have meant one of us monks? If so, which one? 

Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot. He has been our leader for more than a generation. On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man. Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light. Certainly he could not have meant Brother Elred! Elred gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though he is a thorn in people's sides, when you look back on it, Elred is virtually always right. Often very right. Maybe the rabbi did mean Brother Elred. But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for always being there when you need him. He just magically appears. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah. 

Of course the rabbi didn't mean me. He couldn't possibly have meant me. I'm just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I am the Messiah? O God, not me. I couldn't be that much for You, could I?

As they contemplated, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the chance that one among them might be the Messiah. And they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.

People still occasionally came to visit the monastery in its beautiful forest to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even to meditate in the dilapidated chapel. As they did so, they sensed the aura of extraordinary respect that began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely compelling, about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery to picnic, to play, to pray. They brought their friends to this special place. And their friends brought their friends.

Then some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks. After a while one asked if he could join them. Then another, and another. So within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the rabbi's gift, a vibrant center of light and spirituality in the realm.r

others, and expects to receive the best from others in return. It is the type of culture everyone deserves, and it is up to us to make it happen. In our daily lives, we can create a culture of respect with every personal interaction we have, whether it is with a store clerk, a dignitary, or a colleague.

Iron Lady: film about Margaret Thatcher, starring Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep never makes a bad movie (wait i will have to research that) and this film, Iron lady, is no exception.  the film is not so much about PM Thatcher and the 1980's, though that is shown, but it is more about maggie, the grocer's daughter, who had to rise up against a male dominated government and prejudice against her modest background (she actually waited on customers at her father's grocery store before going to Oxford.)  Much of the film is about Margaret as a senior lady, grieving the death of her husband, and of becoming slightly (?) dementia prone.  It begins with the Prime Minister visiting the local grocery store for a pint of milk, thoroughly out of touch with the diverse, modern London.  Or so it seems.  I really enjoyed the performance of ms. Streep, but wonder how the director, producers, selected her.  Its a british film, with an
american actor.  then again, I think Meryl has probably appeared on the London stage, and American actors enjoy a good presence in London (I am thinking about woody allen and the three films he made in London).  anyway, great film.  Much better than i anticipated.  And there was no Ronald Reagan appearance in it either - so much is made of Reagan and Thatcher by the reagan lovers - she was uniquely British, ronnie had nothing to do with her policies.  but she was an admirer of the american enterprise spirit.

Karen Santorum, Rick Santorum's wife, and her abortion history

Dr. Tom Allen, an obstetrician gynecologist, was a pioneer in abortion rights in Pittsburgh even before Roe v Wade 1973.  His story is here  So what?  He was the doctor who delivered Sen. Rick Santorum's wife, Karen Garver.  Forty some years later, Dr. Allen and Karen began a live in relationship while Karen was a student at Duquesne Univ School of Nursing.  As the story here tells, Karen at one point accompanied a woman to an abortion performed by Dr. Allen.

Ok, so what? Can people change their opinions? Sure.  Only she has written a "book" about abortion, and she is married to a Presidential candidate who regularly preaches against abortion and alternative relationships.

Why hasn't this been publicized more?  It probably will if Santorum is more than a spoiler candidate.  

Newt and Calista Gingrich's sordid past: more details from a Meme

by now you have read about the sordid details of Newt Gingrich's life, including his sexual affairs and his penchant for "open" marriages (whatever that is...).  Turns out, Newt and Calista's history is far more sinister, they were photographed as a loving couple at Auschwitz but a Google search shows additional photos (a Meme) that show a sinister side of their past involvement: yes, they were there in Haiti, they were there at the JFK assassination, even at Lincoln's assassination (Abe was too generous to African Americans, the Freedman's Bureau was just a precursor to the Food Stamp rip off, Abe had to be eliminated), and even at the tragic results of global warming.  Are these two traveling in Dr. Who's tele booth?  With these two in the White House, it will be Armaggedon.

Sabrina shows her projection equipment: nuff' said

marine snipers urinate on dead enemy

Ok i admit its gross, but these guys are marine snipers, trained to be killers.  there is a great book about how to train normal, regular people to be killers called On Killing: the Psychological Cost and its by a retired Lt. Col.  His point is that normal people dont want to kill, and training them to kill, esp killing up front and personal, is very difficult.  Marine snipers are normal people who have been put through intensive training to spot a person, and kill him at a long distance.  by surprise, usually.  they are killing people who want to kill them.  On journalist asked a sniper what he feels after he kills a terrorist, the answer?  "Recoil."  the mistake the marines made is (1) making that dumb video (2) sharing it with anyone.  what is more obscene, killing or peeing?  Ok its over the top to pee on someone after you kill them, then again, i have never been trained to become a killer by my government, so I dont know what kind of dehumanization i might feel for a bad guy i just killed.  Its war.  What do people think happens in war?  Of course, the marines involved will get punished, but not their high ranking officers who probably knew about this.  

early results new hampshire

Looks like Mitt is outpolled by the the alternative conservative candidates, Gingrich, Santorum (surging from behind) and Ron Paul.  We shall see what South Carolina holds.  Santorum will probably surge some more down there.  After SC the republican race will be clearer, and Mitt's position as front runner will be clearer.  Big question is what happens when its just Mitt and 2 others, or just one other republican - will Mitt be outpolled then?  Mitt will do better in Nov than any other republican candidate, but will he get the nomination?  Or will this be a Barry Goldwater year? (popular conservative gets republican nomination but nation rejects candidate)

Romney and Santorum (surged from behind) fight, Ron Paul third

I think Romney will have a tough time in New Hampshire and South Carolina with Santorum.  Rick Santorum (surged from behind in Iowa) is conservative alternative to Romney, he might give Romney a long nomination race.  If Romney drops out, then what happens to Ron Paul?  Ron will stay in for the long haul, he has no problem raising money, and he has fanatic supporters, and he knows how to run an inexpensive campaign if he has to.  So this republican race may go on for some time.  Ron Paul will survive past South Carolina, the longer he survives his improbably nomination becomes less improbable.  Romney i think is in trouble.  Even if he gets the nomination, he has little chance of beating Obama, unless the Republican party unites behind him, unless the Republicans can convince voters Romney really is conservative (Romney-Santorum ticket?). 

Headquarters Gentlemen's club closed New Year's Day!

what is this world coming to when NYC's premier gentlemen's club is closed New Year's Day ??  Did Tony Soprano close Badda Bing titty bar on holidays ?  The only good thing about this is that it gives Dennis Rodman a day off to field his topless women's basketball team.  Turns out there is already a topless team from a strip club in texas (I dont know who they play if they are the only team...does it matter? the whole idea is watching them run and jump up and down) and Dennis wants to challenge them to a game.  On the one hand, its good to see Dennis back in basketball (great rebounder) but why the strip club thing?  Why doesnt he just hand over his money to Goldman Sachs - thats a safer investment than a strip club.  Dumb question i guess.