Flu Shot

Yesterday, I voluntarily agreed to get a flu shot. I was visiting the doctor for some routine stuff, and he suggested I get a flu shot. Usually, I protest and turn down his offer. But this time, after some mild coxing, I relented and received my first-ever flu shot!

Now, I have heard horror stories of people getting the actual flu from the shot, but after getting my shot, I did some research and found out that the the viruses they use are utterly dead; therefore, there is no chance of becoming infected via the injection. Although, it is my first flu shot, I am glad that I accepted it. I do work in a setting where I am exposed to countless viruses and bacteria on a daily basis. Lord knows I should have caught it by now, but I haven't yet! Perhaps, this year will be a chance for a new yearly event.

Even though I detest needles, I detest being sick even more!

Don't ask, but feel free to tell

The Pentagon issued orders allowing recruiters of the armed forces to accept gay and lesbian enlistees. While the recruiter may not ask about candidates' sexual orientation, the candidate may declare if he or she is homosexual without being disqualified.

Wow! People can actually be honest about who they are and die for their country in the process!

Too Sad: Christine O'Donnell

Republican fiasco-Tea-Party-loving candidate Christine O'Donnell, who is up for Delaware's seat in the United States Senate, seemed to have murky knowledge about the First Amendment. She was shocked to find out, during a debate, that the First Amendment does guarantee separation of church and state.

Way to go Delaware!

Red State Update: Rand Paul

In an attempt to get Rand Paul elected as the Kentucky's next senator, the RINO Hunters of Central Kentucky hired Red State Update to create a political advertisement.

Aqua Buddha lover Rand Paul declares Bible is a hoax

If we didn't get the memo in 2008, anyone whose last name is "Paul" is probably a moron with radical ideas about our country. If Ron Paul wasn't enough, now Kentucky--for some odd reason--has Rand Paul, who is running for the state's seat in the United States Senate.

Like his father, Ron Paul, Rand Paul is an extreme radical whose ideas are completely out of the mainstream. Only in the Republican Party could you have dabbled in witchcraft, like Delaware's Christine O'Donnell did, or declare the "Bible a hoax" and state that your god is "Aqua Buddha," like Rand Paul. Of course, these candidates have the full backing of the (Tea Party) Republican Party.

In the past, Republicans tried to say it was Democrats who had whacky notions, but this year's pool of Republican nominees has blown that notion out of the water!

Christine O'Donnell (aka, the Witch)

Republican Christine O'Donnell, who is running to fill Vice President Joe Biden's old Senate seat has come under some scrutiny since she discussed her affinity for different religious beliefs and practices. (Even if it was a few years ago. You know what they say about skeletons in the closet at election time!)

In her own political ad, she declares, "I'm not a witch! I'm you." She is just an average American, who never went to Yale University, nor did she inherit millions from her family. That does sound typically American, but she is fighting the fact that she tried, or at least thought about, witchcraft in the past. Now, that past is catching up with her, and you know Republicans feel about any religion that isn't there own (i.e., full-on, dogmatic Christianity)!

Here's O'Donnell's honest-to-goodness ad:




Then, here's Saturday Night Live's spoof of her ad:

10/10/10

I like uniform dates. I remember most of them. I think the world was supposed to end on 6/6/6. Then, something was supposed to happen on 9/9/99, too. But what I can't remember.

It's just fun!

Stephen Colbert & his Brazilian

I watched the opening statement of Stephen Colbert, host of "The Colbert Report," before the House's Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Border Security on YouTube, regarding immigrant workers.

I couldn't stop from laughing as he went over how Americans cannot abide by the thoughts of a Mexican picking their tomatoes. They require an American to do that job, while the tomato then goes through a litany of Latin American hands before reaching the American palate. He also submitted a video of his colonoscopy into the Congressional record, regarding the diet's need of fiber.

Colbert stated: "I want a tomato picked by an American, then sliced by a Guatemalan, and served by a Venezuelan in a spa, where a Chilean gives me a Brazilian."

Barbara Boxer is a millionaire. Et tu, Carly?

In another "Carly for California" ad for Senate, Carly Fiorina declares that Barbara Boxer is a millionaire while Californians are suffering with high unemployment.

I just wonder if that is a bit of the kettle calling the pot black! After all, as the former C.E.O. of HP, Fiorina received a multi-million dollar severance package, after driving that company into the ground.

Now, who is best for California, and the United States Senate?

Carly Fiorina & Barbara Boxer

This morning I saw an advertisement for Republican Carly Fiorina's bid to unseat Barbara Boxer, the Democratic senator from California.

The advertisement itself was a bit odd. It shows Senator Boxer asking a general in the United States armed forces to address her as "senator," during a Senate hearing, rather than as "ma'am." Fiorina's ad asserts that Boxer, who has been in the United States Senate for 28 years, really doesn't deserve the title of senator. Is it because she is a woman or a Democrat?

I personally do not see the disparage in requesting to be addressed by one's title. Yes, if you are a member of the Senate, then you ought to be called "senator," whether you are a Democrat or Republican.

Doctors

When I was younger I had never heard of a physicians assistant or advanced nurse practitioner.

As a consumer in the medical field, I expect to get what I pay for. I am quite verbal about this issue, in and out of the doctor's office. A few years ago I had an experience with an advanced nurse practitioner. I went to the doctor with a bladder infection. It burned when I urinated, yes it was embarrassing, but I was okay with it since I was going to my doctor for treatment.

I waited in the waiting room, then I waited longer in the exam room. The door opened and someone I had never seen came in to talk to me about my bladder, and how it is uncommon for men to get bladder infections. Yes, I am quite uncommon. I was very nice as I asked the million dollar question, "When is the doctor going to come in and see me?" After all, I was paying to see a physician, not a less trained professional. She told me that she would be taking care of me. Then I got a bit brutal.

It hurt to piss, after all.

I said, "I think I'll wait and see the doctor." I was quite sure of my position. "He won't be able to see you today, because he is with other patients," she said. First of all, I called and made an appointment with the doctor, not a prescription-pad-toting Nurse Ratchet. Second, I don't like people telling me what I will do.

By this time, I had my little plastic cup in hand for the urine sample. I calmly explained that I would expect to see the doctor after I filled-up the cup to the line--no less--with my liquid waste. She was pretty certain she would be doing the post-piss diagnosis. By that time I was using words like "insurance fraud." I did, yes, ask if I got a discount by seeing her. The cost was the same. That just didn't set right with me.

(I am a teacher. I am required by law to perform my duties in and out of the classroom, not my teacher's aide. Naturally, it seemed to me that the doctor should be performing his duty to his patients, not his assistant. I don't care how gifted she is with a stethoscope.)

To make a painful story short, the doctor was the one who gave me my diagnosis and wrote the prescription. My self-advocacy as a consumer had won the day! I'm sure, however, my bitchy attitude played a small part in my victory.

As a result, I no longer see that doctor. I feel it is the height of poor manners to expect your patients to accept a substitute when they seek medical care. I now have a doctor who does not even employ physician's assistants or advanced nurse practitioners.

Good for me!

Iraq War Over

A war that should never have been has finally ended after seven bloody years! President Obama declared the war in Iraq essentially ending today at 5pm EST.

This war cost us the lives of Americans, our integrity and respect among the international community. Now it is time to end the disgraceful war in Afghanistan. Both wars have come at a high price. The greatest casualty of all is our dignity as a nation.

Birthers

Birthers say that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Personally, I believe he was born in Hawaii, on August 4, 1961, which is clearly after the state's statehood of 1959.

Even though it isn't anything new, there are those who say he wasn't born in the United States. I have heard everything from Indonesia, where he did live for a short time as a young boy; Kenya, where his father was born. I've even heard Iraq.

Let me say, I am not a "birther." I do not buy into the whole conspiracy theory that Barack Obama is an Islamic fundamentalist, who has been planted into the highest echelon of our nation's government to destroy us from within; however, I do not see any reason why a presidential candidate would not produce his/her birth certificate for public scrutiny. It is a constitutional requirement to be a natural born citizen of the United States, after all. It should be on file, for every candidate, with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

If running for president, would I show you my birth certificate? Yes, without reservation. It shows that I was born in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was admitted into statehood in 1792, as the 15th state. (I've got facts.) I do not see the problem with showing the document to quash any question about my constitutional qualifications.

It may not dispel all rumors and innuendo, but it would prove to the intelligent among the electorate that I am who I say I am. The same holds true for Barack Obama.

Proposition 8 declared unconstitutional

California's ban on same-sex marriage was declared unconstitutional by a United States District Court.

Laws that deny equal rights to gays are certainly unconstitutional!

Struttin' that ass!

Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I watched a healthy dose of soccer. I decided since it was the World Cup, I would donate some of my time to seeing what soccer is all about. I was influenced by a few factors, such as all the advertising on the television and Internet, and a video from "Red State Update." It was about "socialist soccer, players running around in their little shorts, and struttin' that ass!" So, naturally, I had to tune in and see what it was all about.

Backasswards

That word is quite amusing and folky, which is why I am not shocked by who said it. Sarah Palin, who is a Republican stooge, that was John McCain's vice president pick in 2008, stated that Obama was going about the economic issue "backasswards."

Now, I am from Kentucky, and not Alaska, so we may say things here a smidge differently than other places. I have said, "Ass-backwards." There is a unique way, of course, we say it in Kentucky, and I am not going to try to sound it out here.

But I digress.

It is a dumb euphemism, and I wouldn't say it in front of a group of people, if I were a politician. But, again, I'm no Sarah Palin.

General David Patraeus

God, I'd fake a fainting spell, too, if I had to listen to Senator John McCain (R-AZ) drone on and on.

It's 3am...

It's 3am and a phone is ringing in the White House to tell the president that an assload of oil is leaking into the Gulf of Mexico, which will destroy ecosystems and cost billions of dollars in local revenues. Are you glad it is Barack Obama who is taking the call?

I didn't think so.

You could have had Hillary Clinton, you losers! Instead, we have President Obama, who is stuck in the headlights like a deer. I bet Hillary would have kicked someone's ass right there on the Gulf coast! I would rather have a president who was doing something about one of the worst natural distasters in our country's history, rather than on television making speeches about it, because he's too buddy-buddy with British Petroleum (BP).

Lexapro...somewhere in the deep, black sea (not the Gulf of Mexico)

Well, I tried to wean myself off of what I once termed "the good stuff," but I have been having some problems. I dropped my dosage to 5mg per day of Lexapro, but I have sense upped my dose to 10mg per day. The reason behind this increase is simple: I felt like crap!

The 10mg level seems to be comfortable to me. Perhaps, if I plateau there, I can decrease my dose again. I will probably wait and bring it up to my doctor, but I am afraid he may decide to take me off it cold turkey!

(That's why God invented the drawer where I keep my reinforcements!)

Open Mic

Anytime I am around a mic, I realize that it may be on, which means anyone may hear what I am saying.

Let's keep that in mind Carly Fiorina (and Joe Biden) for next time. I wouldn't trust anyone who works in the media to not have a mic on if I am about to do an interview, even if they are doing my hair and make-up, and everyone seems really relaxed!

It just makes sense.

Fiorina, who is a Republican, is up against Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) for her seat in the United States Senate.