Eight Feet Deep

It has been nine days since I had a cervical epidural steroid injection procedure at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Hospital in Houston. Today I am feeling about the same as before surgery, which is a good thing because I have generally felt worse since having the injection.

Literature and health professionals say that it takes from up to three-to-10 days to feel improvements after the cortisone is shot into a spinal epidural space. They — yes, the same “they” — also say this surgical-like procedure helps about 50 percent of the patients who get the injection for pain relief. I was told that if this shot didn’t work, they would try another and another and if those don’t work, it’s off to Plan B. We’ll see what happens. In the meantime, I have a thought about going through any kind of surgical procedure.

It is my opinion that the worst question a doctor or other medical professional can ask a patient before surgery is: “How are you doing?” If you were doing all spiffy you wouldn’t likely be going into a surgical suite, unless you were getting cosmetic surgery or something of the sort. I liken such a question to a reporter asking someone whose home is demolished and their family killed in a tornado, “How do you feel?” Pretty crappy, I would bet. Such questions just don’t make sense, kind of like the Chewbacca Defense.

It’s time for me to find out what is going on in the larger world — that outside my brain — so I bid you adieu. Or a don’t.

“I’m getting a little sick of doing all these tricks for tourists.”
An interesting story last night on CBS News concerning Alaskan brown bears.

People wait long periods to see the bears — many of which show no concern with humans. Such familiarity with the human race is unnerving to some. Just ask people in the Middle East.

Presidential flunkies applaud as George Dubya walks backwards up the stairs to Air Force One.

My paranoid musings last week in which I raised the possibility of the uncovered extremist plot in the United Kingdom as a Bush administration political smoke screen don’t seem so paranoid now.

Stories suggest that the U.S. pressured Scotland Yard in prematurely revealing news of the investigation in which British subjects had planned to blow up a number of Trans-Atlantic airline flights.

I had postulated that perhaps the news of the plot was a way to preempt media coverage of the Democratic primary defeat of Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. The former vice presidential candidate was beaten by liberal, anti-Iraq war candidate Ned Lamont. Of course, my thoughts were just idle speculation with no real basis other than I don’t put anything past this administration.

But just today I read how Veep Dick Cheney appeared to put such notions into the ears of reporters before the plot was announced by Scotland Yard. Cheney suggested to reporters in a rare conference call last week that “Al-Quida types” would be encouraged by Lamont’s triumph over Lieberman. The White House later said Cheney didn’t know about the plot when he talked to reporters. But then, just how credible is Cheney?

It is sad when my cynical speculations appear to have possible substance. It’s just too bad I can’t use my deductive power for good works, such as figuring out which lottery numbers I might play to win the big jackpots.

One has to admire the philanthropy of Bill Gates, using his billions to help some of the world’s ills such as HIV/AIDS. But while admiration is due, methinks that a lot of problems exist for folks in Gates’ own backyard.

In my home state of Texas, for instance, we have more children who are without health insurance than any other state in the union. But we have a lot of guns! You can’t discount that.

Recently I have come to understand that one real problem in our country involves those whom I will call: “The Crevice Dwellers.” No, they don’t necessarily dwell in a crevice. These are the people — like someone I know very well — who is partially disabled but not totally disabled. This person has enough of a disability that it makes finding a suitable job extremely difficult. But the person can work at some tasks and therefore cannot draw disability pensions from the government.

That is just one example of The Crevice Dwellers. There are also many other examples. A good number of people who fall into these categories are the ones who sometime become homeless because there is no safety net to catch them when they slip through. These may be well-educated and otherwise, seemingly normal, individuals. But something happens to them — an illness, injury, divorce, business failure — and they are stuck out there.

The Crevice Dwellers are people who can become stellar citizens and who may contribute much to society. But they keep falling and falling and can’t get out of the rut. Who knows, maybe these people could some day become as rich as Bill Gates and donate their money to help others in the world.

It’s something to think about for the weekend. Have a happy, happy.

Attorney General Al Gonzales stalks Al-Quida in the field.
Among the damage the Bush administration has done in their years in office is shattering what little credibility the government has with the public. The announcement this morning of the uncovered plan to blow up London-to-U.S. bound airliners would normally be a cause for relief — a testament to excellent U.S. and foreign intelligence work. But the subsequent elevation of threat levels for U.S. and British air carriers — while probably prudent — smacks as always as politics.

It’s just hard to believe anything the government tells us anymore, the administration’s credibility being so shot to hell. This morning’s televised news conference about the discovered plot was made even more incredible by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff being joined by Weasel General Al Gonzales. The latter being — whose infuriating smirk rivals only that of Veep Dick Cheney — just has zero credibility as far as I am concerned.

Was the timing of this announcement politics as usual? We may find out some time. But looking at the political landscape sure gives one cause to be suspicious. For instance, the big news on the TV networks yesterday was Bush pal Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman’s defeat in a Democratic primary. Lieberman, who was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, has made many Dems furious by his continual support of Bush on the Iraq war. The media stories about the veteran senator’s defeat suggests ominous clouds ahead for other congressional candidates who support the war.

But this couldn’t be politics because the U.K. uncovered the plot, right? Well, maybe and maybe not. These revelations have been known for awhile. Tony Blair is a Bush man when it comes to Iraq, so who is to say Blair might not have helped ol’ Gee Dubya?

Not being a great fan of most conspiracy theories, I dislike coming off like some nut for even raising such questions. But I think we have George W., Tricky Dick Cheney, Alberto and some of their staunch supporters to thank for such paranoid thinking. And I think that is a real discredit and threat to our democracy.