10-30-2005

I'm glad that we're reading blogs of "political persuasion" this week because I've really been confused about Patric Fitzgerald's apparent hesitation in widening the indictments against Liddy and, worse, at least temporarily leaving Rove untouched. Peter Daou's report on "Salon" does a great job on this topic, on which I'd like to comment.

Although Salon presents points of view from both sides of the political chasm (it's developing into far more than an "aisle"), Daou reveals his own bias with a snide but apt query about Yale's inflated marking system's allowing Bush to achieve a C+ average and how 39% of Americans could be hoodwinked into thinking this poster child for deception and narrow thinking is doing a good presidential job. Nonetheless, I was routed to two opposing articles which clarified the Libby business for me.

Marty Aussenberg's article "Fitz's Knuckleball" was the most helpful. Aussenberg himself is a lawyer formerly employed by the SEC, which gives him insight into federal court procedures. He believes that these are merely preliminary indictments, a "shot across the bow" of the ship of state. He points out that Fitzgerald set up factual predicates for violations of the
Espionage Act, which was unnecessary for the filing of withholding infomation and obstruction charges. He further indicates that Libby's indictment can be expanded to more serious cahrges later, and that all that has been done in Rove is postpone, not bury. Aussenberg thinks that Fitgerald's real reason for the method of filing the indictments, to include the espionage predicates, is to warn the White House that he has the "real goods" and will be back for more. To use the baseball analogy forming the humorous undertone of some of the article (I always love that part), Fitzgerald didn't swing for a "home run" because he's "corking up his bat" for his next time up.

As seems to be the case in the blogs we've read, the opposing article from the right is much weaker. Surber's stance seems not to present information, but merely to take a position trivializing the charges. He treats the lack of immediate indictment as vindication of Rove and Libby's innocence, without any speculation on possible further developments. The writing has no depth, and provides no fair comparison to Aussenberg. Perhaps this evalution is my own bias surfacing.

Another reason I'm glad to reach this week is that I think we're going to get a fully involved McE. It's clear that he's really involved in the so-called "Public Debate" so maybe we get some blood-and guts, a little fire in this weeks class.. Later

10-25-2005

The subject of tonight's blither is doctors. I currently employ a general practician, an endochronologist, an oncologist, a surgeon, a dermatologist, and a couple of osteo guys. If I could find half an ounce of common sense among them I'd consider myself lucky.

The main problem seems to be in their income level. Like Tevye in "Fiddler" we tend to ascribe wisdom to people who are rich. I can tell you after years as a stock broker that there is absolutely no correlation between wealth and intelligence. Unlike most of the rest of the world, US citizens are willing to shell out obscene amounts of money for medical opinions, no matter how idiotic they are, if the opinionator is an MD. Most physicians have been forced, through specialization, to concentrate on one tiny area of learning to the exclusion of all others, which makes his thinking on any other subject less than mediocre. Nonetheless, because he's paid a lot of money for giving an opinion, any opinion, he's somehow validated even outside his medical field. Even if he starts out as a reasonable guy, it's easy under these social circumstances to slip into a morass of supercillious assininity. Poor them. Poor us . Poor healthcare system.

The narrowness in the view of the American doctor leads him to consider only his aspect of a patient's case, sort of like the three blind men describing an elephant. A great example of this was my endocronologist pontificating his recommendation that I do a lot of walking for exercise. Had he either (1)listened to me or (2) read my charts, he would have discovered a series of operations on my knees, a condition of osteoarthritis that has left me with no cartilage in either one,
and a failed series of knee injections attempting to correct the problem. I had previously told this stellar example of medical education that I was finally going to give in and have two knee replacements. To this the response, less than two weeks later, "I really think it would be a good idea for you to do a lot of walking". Idiotic blither. On the other hand, he seems to know a lot about endocronology.

My oncologist's office has a phone system which makes it virtually impossible to talk to a any human being, much less the doctor himself. When I brought this to his attention, he told me it was "inappropriate" for me to want to communicate with him. Unsurprisingly, the turnover in his admin staff is about three times that of McDonalds.

Believe me , Icould go on endlessly on this subject, but you wouldn't listen. I don't have an MD.
Later.

10-23-2005

I have just finished reading the "republicofdogs" blog referrenced in McE's last dictum. Since I clearly fall into the category of "old school" activist I am currently feeling underappreciated for our achievements in the '60's and a little pissed off at a 31-year-old whose generation sits around spilling ink, not blood, and lets a bunch of good old boy conservatives run our country into the ground.

First, lets consider the word "activist"as it applies to present-day liberal-progressives. Strict definition would denote that some "action", preferably physical, would actually be taken at some point.Apparently,this interpretation of the word doesn't apply to "new school" thinking. In the early 60's, when faced with the obviously illegal, immoral, and unethical institutional perpetration of racist policies in the deep South, a bunch of us,mostly college kids, charged down to Mississippi to remedy the situation by trying to register black voters. We certainly understood the risk of personal injury, even death. Most of us were either shot at, harassed by the local police, beaten up, or at the very least threatened by idiots wearing sheets. The upshot of all this is that a few hundred of us changed a policy of institutionalized racism that had stood for over 300 years. Tell me what's "old school " about that.

Further, I got my head bashed in at Berkeley in 1965 protesting unfair educational practices and a war that the vast majority of people under 30 knew was immoral and ,worse yet, impossible to win. You will note that we were physically opposing these policies, being dragged away by police, not gently, from our positions in front of the admin office, not from the vantage of a safe, comfortable blogspot as our supposed liberal firebrands do today. By the way, the governor of California at the time of the riots , Ronald Reagan, was made to look like a total imbicile during interviews then. It would behoove those of you revisionists who want to deify this man to revisit tapes of that time. You'd be embarrassed.Also, by the way, Mario Savio, the chief organizer of the riots and a very strong anti-war voice, was drafted a few weeks after,along with several of his close associates (I was one). None of us , to my knowledge, ran to Canada. Oppositionists, not traitors.

The point of all this is that I agree that there is a distinction between "old school" and "new school" liberal activists. I wish I still had the energy to man the barricades, because no one from the "new school" has the guts to do anything more than blog away at windmills while our personal freedoms are being whittled down by a bunch of politicos whose main rationale seems to be "aw, shucks" followed by "amen".

This blog has gotten too freaking long. I don't want to be accused of "Mannioning". If you think this subject irritated me, wait 'til you hear what my view is on what these troglodites have done to the separation of church and state. Later.

10-21-2005

I was told today how to do a link to another blog. Since I just left a comment on coffeerhetoric I'll try a link now. Well, that didn't work . It would have been good (for me ,anyway) to take some class time and learn blogging techniques. Meanwhile, I'll try to find some one who knows what they're doing and then, dammit, I'm gonna link forever.

Hey, guys , wasn't she great. Our visit with the "coffee lady" was, to my mind, nothing short of spectacular. After listening endlessly the week before to those boring technogeeks (who's one redeeming feature seems to be that they share McE's political views), she was like iced tea in August. We were in the presence of greatness, ladies and gents. And the great thing is, she doesn't even know it. If I get nothing more from this class, I'll still feel satisfied.

It's time for me to make a semi-public apology to my classmates for screwing up their names. I have at various times calles Brett " Eric", Eric "Joe", Joe "Brett", and last night I misnamed my guitar playing buddy "Eric", whom he doesn't resemble in the least. I could ignore this obvious descent into quasi-senility if I didn't also call Ellen "Erin" and vice-versa. The final blow was calling Jennifer, who has been in the chair next to me all semester, "Jessica". The guys will forgive me, thinking I was either drunk or stoned, but when the day comes when I can't keep straight the names of attractive, intelligent women, I may need to hang 'em up. Lord, don't let this be the day!

Seriously, sorry, guys. Enough. Later.

10-19-2005

www.xiaxview.com took me by very pleasant surprise. I thought at first thought I would be caught up in another "insult narrative", but unlike the snide nastiness of "Three Bulls" there exists in Xia a little -girl desire to be liked, which is actually kind of obnoxiously charming. Clearly, she is interested in shocking her readers-anyone who describes her menstral blood as "baby pink with light gold glitter" is swimming strongly against the main stream. But her satirical view lacks the vicious bite and nihilistic social position taken by "Bulls"-like blogs. She wants you to visit and appreciate other "Asian" blogspots, so she presents herself as cutely obnoxious. Humor through hyper-exaggeration is a terrific ironic ploy-- painting (and picturing) herself as a princess goddess whose hair sheds snowflakes rather than our mortal dandruff. By the way, I chose willful suspension of disbelief and went with acceptance of her persona as real. It did my heart good to indulge in some lustful yearning. Damn, where did the last 30 years go?

A commentator on Lance Mannion's described it as "often erudite, never oppressive". This succinct analysis cathes the blog perfectly. The writing is smooth, literate ,and incisive. The parallel drawn between Oliver Reed"s interpretation of Bill Sykes and Athos is brilliant. Even considering the lack of heavy duty content, this is impressive stuff.It points out by example the mediocrity of a lot of bloggers that we have read.

Speaking of exceptional lyrical writing, I don't know how I completely missed the subtlety of "Coffee Rhetoric" my first time through. Maybe you don't fall in love at first glance. She hands you her heart on her sleeve, and evokes every protective male instinct in existence (and apparently a few female ones, also). This through a veneer of sarcastic toughness that's heartbreaking. Until she writes it ,this world is missing a great novelist.

Bringing cohesion to an analysis of blog-writing is difficult because of the lack of uniformity in blog types. Most blogs I have readattempt some form of iconoclasm, either through shocking language, unusual content, or the striving for a unique authorial voice. I am excepting here "informational blogs" which may not be true blogs at all because of their impersonality. The fact that there is no censoring authority save personal conscience encourages this style. Adding to this is the technocrati origins of blogging which leads some bloggers to separate themselves from mainstream writing through technospeak, which encodes the writing generationally. Blogging is for some definitively and chauvanistically Gen-X, and when I see it I get pissed off. I get the same feeling watching people mumble Hebrew at a synagogue, which nobody, including the mumbler, understands.

Enough, I'm blithering, which I guess is the point.

10-19-2005

www.xiaxview.com took me by very pleasant surprise. I thought at first thought I would be caught up in another "insult narrative", but unlike the snide nastiness of "Three Bulls" there exists in Xia a little -girl desire to be liked, which is actually kind of obnoxiously charming. Clearly, she is interested in shocking her readers-anyone who describes her menstral blood as "baby pink with light gold glitter" is swimming strongly against the main stream. But her satirical view lacks the vicious bite and nihilistic social position taken by "Bulls"-like blogs. She wants you to visit and appreciate other "Asian" blogspots, so she presents herself as cutely obnoxious. Humor through hyper-exaggeration is a terrific ironic ploy-- painting (and picturing) herself as a princess goddess whose hair sheds snowflakes rather than our mortal dandruff. By the way, I chose willful suspension of disbelief and went with acceptance of her persona as real. It did my heart good to indulge in some lustful yearning. Damn, where did the last 30 years go?

A commentator on Lance Mannion's described it as "often erudite, never oppressive". This succinct analysis cathes the blog perfectly. The writing is smooth, literate ,and incisive. The parallel drawn between Oliver Reed"s interpretation of Bill Sykes and Athos is brilliant. Even considering the lack of heavy duty content, this is impressive stuff.It points out by example the mediocrity of a lot of bloggers that we have read.

Speaking of exceptional lyrical writing, I don't know how I completely missed the subtlety of "Coffee Rhetoric" my first time through. Maybe you don't fall in love at first glance. She hands you her heart on her sleeve, and evokes every protective male instinct in existence (and apparently a few female ones, also). This through a veneer of sarcastic toughness that's heartbreaking. Until she writes it ,this world is missing a great novelist.

Bringing cohesion to an analysis of blog-writing is difficult because of the lack of uniformity in blog types. Most blogs I have readattempt some form of iconoclasm, either through shocking language, unusual content, or the striving for a unique authorial voice. I am excepting here "informational blogs" which may not be true blogs at all because of their impersonality. The fact that there is no censoring authority save personal conscience encourages this style. Adding to this is the technocrati origins of blogging which leads some bloggers to separate themselves from mainstream writing through technospeak, which encodes the writing generationally. Blogging is for some definitively and chauvanistically Gen-X, and when I see it I get pissed off. I get the same feeling watching people mumble Hebrew at a synagogue, which nobody, including the mumbler, understands.

Enough, I'm blithering, which I guess is the point.

10-18-2005

It has been mentioned by you, not so gentle readers, that I don't post often enough on my blog. I'm sure this less than auspicious behavior has also, maybe more significantly, been noted by our noble leader ,McE. Before I begin my commentary on this week's theme, I'm going to indulge in a minor rant which will explain this unfortunate phenomenon, and with a little luck will even segue into my blog comment.

Somewhere in the last 5 years, I have evolved into the thankless position of Family Patriarch. I'm not entirely sure how this happened. It's possible I magically got older, had a bunch of kids and grandkids, and outlived all the other authority symbols in the family while I wasn't paying attention. Patriarch is not a paying position. In fact, it's extremely expensive in terms of both time and money. I usually love being the center of attention, but being the focal point and psychological,emotional, ethical, and financial touchstone for all the multitudinous solutions of my family's problems is tremondously time-consuming. Not that anyone actually pays attention to my opinion on whatever problem has arisen, but endless discussion seems to be required and apparently I always need to be consulted (especially about the financial solutions). My son, in a touching burst of honesty after a heated discussion (aren't they all?) called me his "rock". My daughter called me nearly every day from Colorado for months to help her through her divorce. My grandkids come flying across the room and leap into my arms every time I see them. Maybe Patriarch isn't such a bad job, but it really eats into my blogging time.

This , of course, segues smoothly into my favorite blog this week "By Neddy Jingo". Finally , someone who is of a "certain age" and doesn't feel compelled to new aged technicized slang into every sentence. Also his taste in music is appropriately passe. I agree with McE that Neddy is clearly striving for a more literary effort than most blogs we've read, despite his "doth protest too much" response to his discovery of that comment and our class's interest in him. "Dog Bows to the Elephant" is an obvious, and successful, attempt to elevate his style. Even his self-deprecating denial of his own awareness of his literary style is transparently ingenuous. Nonetheless, I gotta love a guy who refers to us as "Colin's Kids".

"Three Bulls" , a self-defined "insult narrative " is a good example of several writing tendencies found in a number of blogs. First, he uses language and concepts designed only for their shock value. He uses terms esoteric to Gen-Xers and bloggeeks, an attempt at satire that runs past satirical and slides all the way into bullying meanness. I didn't even like his choice of content. I can't imagine giving a rat's ass about Sharon Osborne or, for that matter, Iron Maiden. In the words of Studs Lonigan, it's a world I never made.

McE says "I don't know who this is" about "Humblelizard Dairyland". Who would care?

Tomorrow, about "Lance Mannion", "Xiaxview", and "Coffee Rhetoric" (man, did I ever underrate her the first time through, she is terrific)

10-12-2005

On my way home I popped in a disc and listened as Billie Holliday tore my heart out with "Lover Man". While wondering how some skanky woman from 50 years ago could move me like that, I had a small epiphany (strange, considering I'm 2 hours away from my Yom Kippur fast--epiphany, small e). This revelatory flash was that Connecticut, while it's debatable whether it has a
an "author's voice" to it's blogs, clearly has no "lyric" or "melodic" voice. This state has absolutely no musical heritage. "California, Here I Come", Deep In The Heart Of Texas, "Carry Me Back To Old Virginia", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Missouri Waltz", "Tennessee Waltz", but no Connecticut anything-- waltz, foxtrot, or even a shag (only Carolignians can shag, or would want to).

Seriously, is it possible that our lack of a definitive musical culture affects our state's creative product, including blogging? When I visited Savannah, Johnny Mercer's presence was almost palpable. When in New Orleans (pre-Katrina) ,Dixieland permeated the atmosphere. I believe the lack of musical effect on a region is as important an influence as the presence of one. We are living in a non-melodious void, and it shows in our somewhat emotionally removed cultural aspect. Even our singers distance themselves from the state, Martina McBride sings with a Southern accent, and don't even bring up Michael Bolton, (who would?)

Enough,already. I have to go starve myself for 24 hours. Does God care ? I'm too chicken and/or too superstitious to risk finding out.

10-11-2005

The article on local blogging in the Connecticut section of the NY Times on Sunday (which for some reason I receive on Saturday) really ticked me off. Talk about damning with faint praise! I am finally beginning to appreciate the vastness of the scope of the bloggosphere and the incipient power therein.I felt the article trivialized the medium, implying by it's lack of scope and narrowness of vision, combined with the minor subject matter of most of the blogs covered, by implication reducing the field to a faddish realm populated by a few idiosyncratic denisens. We're much more than a fad. Today, the bloggosphere, tomorrow........man, do I ever get carried away.

10-10-2005

Today we attack the musical question "does Connecticut have a definitive sense of place, and do local blogs reflect that?". To end the suspense, my answer to the first half of that query is yes, and to the second half, maybe.

I have lived for extended lengths of time in 4 places in my life, and have found each to have unique and quantifiable aspects of geographical beauty, political and religious dynamic, and a difficult to define social ethos. Southern Illinois, also known as "Little Egypt" or Mark Twain country,was, in the late '40's and early '50's, an unabashedly racially segregated domain, committed to agriculture both culturally and conversationally. Fundamental religion permeated any "philosophical" discussion. At 12 years old I was asked seriously by a friend who had found out that I was Jewish "where were my horns?".

San Francisco in the '60's was everything you've read. Hallucinagenic drugs were considered a must at parties, anti-war politics and civl rights rallies, flower-power, beat-nik clothing, very liberal social values, tolerance of virtually anything. You can never find a time machine when you need one.

Germany in the late '60's was a culture shock. On one hand , there was the subliminal guilt of middle -class German's concerning Hitler (everybody fought on the Eastern Front, and only against Russians). There was a dichotomy in the German attitude toward me, a Jew but also an American Army officer. All buildings in small German Rhineland towns, like Worms where we lived, were by law narrowly limited in architectural design, making everything look uniform like a Grimm fairy tale.I think this constant visual bombardment affected social attitude, encouraging the herd instinct. Most of the economic concerns centered around the wine crop, as did most of the celebrations. Hard to believe those guys fought world wars.

With this as a backdrop, it is easy to find the definitive aspects in my Connecticut surroundings. My later childhood was spent in a very small town "nestled in the foothills of the Berkshires" of the western sector of the state. I now live in the larger bedroom suburb of Cheshire. My love of our state's rural natural beauty fills me with a somewhat uncharacteristic simple chauvanism. For that reason, my favorite blog this week, far and away, was Connecticut Windows on the Natural World. It displays, rather sentimentally, beautiful areas and where to find them. I take day-long "excursions" with two of my grandchildren to many of the places mentioned. I have spent literally hundreds of hours on top of the Meriden cliffs pictured on the blog. You can see the Sound on a clear day, and from the other side of the ridge you can see all the way to Hartford. This bucolic splendor is , I believe, uniquely Connecticut.

Connecticut can also be politically and culturally defined, and it shows in some of the blogs we read. First of all, the state by and large leans politically left. This makes the conservative side peculiarly restrained and intellectualized, William Buckley, never Billy Graham. In fact, on "Connecticut Conservative" right-wing religious positions don't seem to exist, as they certainly would in a neo-con blog from the South or Midwest. Like rightists everywhere, however, he seems to concentrate on deconstructing (McE's word, better than bashing, I guess ) leftists like Dodd and Lieberman but finds little to say in support of Shays and Johnson.

This brings me to "Orient Lodge". Aldon hayes apparently feels so confident of the support of his liberal audience that he doesn't have to say anything more about a candidate than that he , or his wife the State Rep, "likes" him because he's a "great guy", a permeating phrase on the blog. I understand he may visit this week. Is he fair game, or do we have to be nice?

The speculation on "Ex-Donkey Blog" (quoting a conservative) that Harry Reid's backing of Harriet Miers is a Machiavellian attempt to set the Right against her is a fun thought, and I found that quotes like that made the blog interesting. However there is a certain restraint to the blog, and to all the blogs cited on " Connecticut Weblogs" that shows careful editing. Very "Connecticut".I also liked "Tchotches" speculation that Miers is either a red herring or a Trojan horse, possibly being appointed to be Borked. By the way, anant our discussion about Tushnet, Mary Bishop of Tchotchkes is not Jewish, yet names her blog a Yiddish idiom. My need to win arguments gets me in sooooo much trouble.

One last thought, I hated "Total Mind Blow". Not professionally done. No "message". Not much of a blog.

By the way, for the half-dozen of my so-called friends who have called to rag me about blogging at work, the time you're seeing at the end of my blogs is not accurate. It just means I don't know how to set the clock on my computer. Or set up a link, by the way, which I intend to discover this week.

10-05-05

At last all is revealed. I now know how to get a high pass (which I apparently need to continue my studies here) from McE. First, I have to participate in class discussion. This is a totally unfair requirement for a shrinking violet such as myself, and to think I was considering allowing someone else to share my weekly classroom monologue. Secondly, I need to demonstrate that I read the blogs that are assigned each week by commenting (briefly) on them in my blog. I should like to point out here the absolute stupidity of taking this course and then not doing the course reading, but then I guess we have to have some objective standards in education. Maybe some Mastery Tests, then we could get government funding.

In a moment, I will incisively comment on my adventures this week in blogville. But first, I'd like to list my motives for this course. (1)I'd like to definitively learn what constitutes a blog.(2)I'd like guidance in selecting interesting blogs to read, and listen to my classmate's commentary on same. (3)I'd like to create a blog myself for my own pleasure and develop some writing skills.(4)I'd like to get a high pass from McE. Unfortunately for my scholastic future, my order of interest is 3, 2, 1, 4, but I'm sure student desperation will set in later in the term

The following is for demonstration purposes only. My favorite "credentialed" blogger by far aws the first one that I read, James Wolcott. I like the fact that he provides lots of interesting background for his commentary , even though some of the items (for me) fall into the category of arcana. For instance, I really liked all the somewhat slanted info on the Kurd's de facto independence movement, and I've been following the Hollinger case(I am, after all, a stock broker). On the other hand ,I had no idea who Valerie Phlame is, and now that I do, I don't care. I like Wolcott's taste in entertainment , like CSI (the original) and Law and Order (although anyone who's been as unfairly treated by the Federal court system as I has serious reservations about L&O). And his comments on Harriet Miers' nomination, "crony" rather than conservative, are right on. I gues we should expect good taste (and grammar) from a Vanity Fair editor.

I was already familiar with Eric Alterman, having seen many quotes from "Altercation" in the Wall Street Journal. I've also had many 4 hour arguments with my friend Hugh Ryan (who was con way before neo) about media bent, and I used quotes from Alterman's "What Liberal Media " to make my points. He does tend to oversimplify,such as making sure to label each blogger he quotes as "liberal", "moderate" or "radical right". Oh well, Brooklyn College. Was that supercillious? For God , for Country, for Brooklyn College. It just doesn't have that ring.

Sorry, sometimes I get bored doing this stuff.

Roger Ailes is too damn full of himself . (I should talk). I found it interesting finding Wolcott on his enemies list. Did I miss something? I did like some of his anti-bigotry ironies, though. Some of the web slang went way over my head, or under my age bracket. What in hell is "Schadenfreude"?

Wonkette is terifically funny, albeit a little too self-conscious in her raunchy off-color satire. Some of it was like watching slapstick comedy, you know it's way over the top, but you can't help laughing. Thanks, Wonkette, I needed that after two days of bitter diatribe.

In general, I found these "credentialed" bloggers to be more celebrated than good, sardonic rather than satirical. That's a broad stroke with obvious exceptions, but it's my blog and my opininion.

It's much more fun to blog my world view than to comment on other blogs, but if I must.....

10-02-2005

Sunday morning, late. I've been playing the piano and singing a little. As always, this impromptu concert is performed in tacit understanding for my wife, who is puttering in the kitchen. Some classic pop, some ballads, some show tunes, a little bit country, a little bit rock-and-roll. I play with some emotion, so my wife knows I still love her after all these years. I know she'll find an excuse to make contact at some point . Sure enough, in she comes with a question, where does "From This Day On" come from. I answer "Brigadoon" and she, having shown she loves me, goes back into the kitchen. You can see part of my formula for a long marriage. Romance- comes and goes. Fidelity- overrated. But putting a little schmaltz in your music to your woman lasts a long time, maybe forever. Love, on all levels, is much easier now than in angst-ridden youth.

As is self-evident, my operation and hospital debacle was reasonably concluded,and I've been assured that my current resemblance to Herman Munster is temporary. This result was accomplished not through bravery on my part (see last blog) but with a good surgeon and timely administration of vicodin. Although vicodin is not LSD or pehote (ah, my '60s), it does blow a goodly amount of wind under your wings. It's no damn fun getting high legally, I discovered, or maybe I'm just over that particular hill.

Today's hospital is insurance-run, with very little regard for patient amenities, witness that I was boote out the day after surgery. A second casualty of the system is food. For dinner I was served a bowl of broth that somebody whispered "beef" over, along with a cup of tea which was either green or brown depending on which angle you viewed it. The finale was a cup of jello of indeterminent flavor, at least I couldn't determine it. My breakfast, I was told , was a dietary upgrade. This consisted of some tasteless scrambled eggs (saltless and pepperless), some strained oatmeal (I now know what they do with my re-cycled cardboard), and coffee, which I'm saving for my friend Dave's boat to get the barnacles off. Yet another systemic loss is those lovely, helpful, smiley nymphets we used to call candy-stripers. Nowadays the volunteers are all 75 years or older. A pathetic scene was this poor 90 pound septuarian forced by some arcane insurance law to push me (at 230 pounds) out of the hospital in a wheelchair. We almost lost her when the wheels got stuck at the elevator door.

Enough rant. I survived, as did the hospital. There was some doubt as to the latter. It's rumored that I'm a somewhat difficult patient. I'll save my bitching about anonymous bloggers 'til next time.