Ahoy Planets New, With My SISTER CREW

(More from Little House on the Prairie in Outer Space opening credits.)

Starring

PRISS PRISSTOFFERSON

BELLE UNDERHILL and FELICE NAVIDAD

Our Starship is The Prairie

(From Little House on the Prairie in Outer Space opening credits.)

Little House on the Prairie IN OUTER SPACE

The series continues. (Sing this to the tune of the Little House on the Prairie TV Show.)

When the great plains aren't vast enough
And Walnut Grove town is stifling
It's time for a change
So lets re-arrange our molecules
And teach galactic school

"The Prairie" 's the name of our rocket ship
Left western horizons for beyond
If energy ports
Should morph out of sorts there's hydrogen
In Plum Creek and Blackberry Pond

Laura's a whiz at the tiller
Mary's clairvoyant carefree
Our computer "Pip"
Is Paw (in a chip) and Jack-kuri
Is our Robo-puppy

Off to new worlds and more planets
Big, small and some frothy foam
Why we pioneer?
The answer clear that soon we'll find
A place for our new home

Veterans and PTSD

Private health insurance companies try to exclude the more expensive patients. This Orange County Weekly article explains that a significant number of war veterans are losing their publicly funded medical benefits as well. Since lifelong psychiatric care weighs heavily on the Veterans Administration budget, eligibility has been taken away from those who received dishonorable discharges. It seems obvious that people in that situation, mostly men, are seriously in need of care. It could be argued that disciplinary problems made them less deserving than others, but that conclusion will not make their health problems go away. As some of them have a history of violence, providing this care, even simply monitoring their condition, is more than a gesture of compassion, it is in the interest of everyone, a matter of selfish public safety.

I don't want to discount compassion. Access to medical care is essential for non-veterans too. If we need a public interest reason to justify it, I think that some of the people who receive good care, will go on to pass on care and support to the rest of society.

Lightning Illuminates

I attempted live-blogging from the election night Illuminati gala, but while the wifi gave four bars, the internets were denied to me. The computers projecting news feeds on wall screens were wired in.

I got there earlier than planned, and the dining event was still in full swing. Madame ChairLady added me to the list, and I pinned on a name tag. A non-sucky band played, and among the animal and pasta and cake and cookie dishes was a salad bar with raw cauliflower.

Seeing the faces of people in the crowds broadcast from around the country moved me. So much worry that skullduggery would steal this, or that a close count would drag things out. So much joy that Obama has been declared the winner. News bureaus say so, concession speech, VICTORY speech. A done deal.

My companions needed to stay late to finish their hosting duties. So I was still there when our Governor, Christine Gregoire went over the top and made a victory speech on television. I got a bumper sticker and two bilingual campaign buttons. I had my picture taken with Barrack. Now to read the speeches that I half heard above the roar of the crowd.
Posted by Prisstopolis at 12:39 AM 0 heard from
Labels: election night, pictures, politics, presidential campaign, raw food

Fu Yu

The voting has been done. Straight Democratic ticket, and if one of the non partisan judicial candidates enjoys the similarly gendered, so much the the fairer meting of justice there shall be. I picked up a free coffee with brown sugar at Starbucks. It was made from burnt beans that were over-boiled, truly an incentive to stick to carrot juice or green tea! I voted against all of the initiatives except for one increasing public transportation. It is expensive and will probably fail.

Here in Washington State we considered something billed as the "death with dignity" initiative if you were in favor, or as "medically assisted suicide" if you were against it. I'm in the against camp, even though it is likely to pass. I've looked at the argument in favor. The prescription would be available only to those expected to expire naturally within six months, and they would have to submit to a psychological interview and be determined to be mentally competent.

In Judaism, doing away with yourself is a strict no-no. It can be looked at as self-murder. The way that we rationalize it and forgive those who are assumed to have done this, is to believe that they must have been depressed, they must not have been in their right minds. So I'm in favor of thorough pain relief, I'm in favor of treatment for depression, and I'm definitely in favor of not unnaturally prolonging lives of comatose people dependent on respirators. Hospitals and hospice care have come a long way in establishing guidelines to prevent that from happening. A lot of people that I know who have religious faith and practice seem to able to support this initiative and not find a conflict. Our State voted on a similar initiative 16 years ago and it failed at that time. This one is considered to be drafted more carefully.

The fuyu? More Japanese persimmons. Marked down because they were getting soft. Perfectly sweet and ready to dig into.

What a Vice President Does (The less, the better.)

The Vice President is just there to serve as a backup in case the presidential disk crashes. There is also the rarely required tie-breaking vote in the Senate. NOTHING ELSE.

Voters hope that if a VP assumes the presidency, ongoing administration policies will be continued, but the new guy has no obligation to do so. Ideally, a running mate is chosen based on sharing the philosophies of the main candidate.

All of this adviser, lobbyist, little helper, ghetto enforcer, brains behind the machine, surrey-with-the-fringe-on-top window-dressing is not why we have one. Although a VP can come in handy to represent the U.S. at foreign funerals, or to toss out the first baseball of the season.

A conscientious VP would spend time every day reading the congressional record, the newspapers, twitter, and anything the president sends over.

The idea is to stay informed, to be ready if called upon.

Vote Like a Pirate

Aye, the tide is turning me fine lasses and laddies. Election day draws nigh and soon we'll be having a hack and slash sword fight with the scurvy varlets of that bilious Brigantine known as the S.S. Diebold as they divide up the resultin' booty. A call rings out across deck-plank and dock, 'All ashore that's goin' ashore!" Unabashed Republicans the likes o' Colin Powell and Representative Jim Leach have let it be known to one and all that a McCain presidency is a calamity up with which they will not be puttin'. Television talking heads such as Katie Couric and David Letterman find it impossible to interview an R candidate without lapsin' into eyerollin' and into lip curlin' sneers. Chris Matthews expressed his disgust that McPain has no idea what the constitution is tellin' us about what a vice president does, and R speechwriter David Frum says that while he may still vote for his lily-livered passel of lamers, he washes his hands of the ham-handed hodgepodge they've been after foistin' upon the American people.

These hard-core henchmen of the establishment are like rats leavin' a sinkin' ship. Conversly, they are like new-signed landlubbers anxious to get their sea-legs under 'em as the ship of State casts off for new waters. Middle of the roaders hate to be left stradling a gangplank as it folds up for four years of hold storage.

So pack yer hardtack and put on yer Sou'Wester. It's time to fish or cut bait.