Gotta love doctors who give you good news/bad news
Last trip to the VA I had to take another test to see if the doctors want to go ahead with inserting that defibrillator or not. I got a call yesterday from the doctor who'd written the consult for the test. The results show my heart's ejection fraction is at 35%, and possibly closer to 40%. That's good news except that the images from the test were not sharp and therefore the result could be off. So they want another test before deciding how to proceed.
If my ejection fraction is 35% or below, I get the device. Above 35%, I don't qualify for it. My cardiologist wants me to have it, but I may not qualify to receive it. Seems kind of arbitrary to me. I understand that we have to have limitations on expensive devices and procedures. But when doctors agree something is beneficial and you're right on the borderline, perhaps borderlines should be a bit fuzzy.
I'd say that in a situation like this, if 35% is the current line of demarcation, give the doctors two or three percentage points on either side of the line. If they think it prudent to not do the procedure when the result is 32% or 33%, go with that. If they think it prudent to do the procedure at 37% or 38%, go with their recommendation.
The worst part is I'd finally arranged a good date for that procedure to happen and now it will have to be rescheduled yet again.
* * *
The insurance adjuster was here today. He is of the mind there is additional damage beneath the bumper that isn't visible, and that's why my trunk lid is out of alignment. It locks, and opens/closes without difficulty. So they're going to want to take it to a body shop and pull the bumper off to repair the visible damage and see what else is wrong. I'm guessing I'll be tooling around in a rental car for a week or so.
I will never know for certain if she was texting while driving, or on the phone and holding it up to her ear rather than using hands-free. But I'm willing to wager a lot of these rear-end accidents are caused by one or the other of those bad practices.
If I wasn't adamant before about not using the phone to text or talk (hands-free is okay) in the car, I am now. My friends and family will just have to understand that I will answer their call/text when I get where I'm doing, or when I'm at a stoplight that will last long enough for me to respond. Sitting at a light while texting is safe.
* * *
The Republican Party in general and that portion of it known as the Tea Party in particular, are in trouble. Three years from this week, there will be a presidential election. The question is, can the party nominate someone who is electable, or will the intransigent disaffection of the Tea Party people with anything not involving their agenda result in a nominee who can't beat Hillary Clinton?
If the more moderate Republicans, both in and out of government, don't step up and force a change in direction, they will see a rare event. They will lose their majority in the House during the mid-term elections of a lame-duck president; an election where the opposition almost always gains ground. They have no one to blame but themselves.
There is a strategy that they could employ that would probably avoid this disaster for them. Stop clamoring to repeal Obamacare. Instead, start talking about "fixing" it. Fix it so that there's a way to get everyone into the risk pool without forcing anyone to do anything. In the coming days I will describe one way this might be done.
Then while doing that, launch their own comprehensive program of immigration reform. Fix the problem once and for all. Resolve the issue of those who are presently here illegally and at the same time, resolve that once all of the current illegal immigrants are on a path to being legal residents (or citizens), stop future influxes. Do what other nations do. Enforce our borders. Deport those who enter after a date in the future at some point in the reform process.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Yasser Arafat was probably poisoned. Maybe. No one is 100% sure, only 83% sure. I'll reserve judgment until they get to 100%.
Senator Rand Paul wants to challenge those who are accusing him of plagiarism to a duel. That ought to be interesting.
I guess it is finally time to take the Blockbuster Video card out of my wallet once and for all. The final 300 locations of the once giant video/DVD rental store will be closing soon. I remember hovering around the checkout counter at the location in Manhattan Beach that's now an imaging facility, waiting for the newest films to be returned so I could take them home. I still have my VHS/DVD combo player. It is my only hope of ever being able to watch "Sidekicks" again.
UPI still exists, although one wonders why/how when they do stuff like this. Remember that story about the middle school football coach in Oregon who was fired after he scheduled his team's awards dinner at the local Hooters? Well, they have that story up on their website and they are using a photograph of Hooters girls above the link. Three Hooters girls who work at Hooters in Beijing and have their location on their tight tank tops.
I don't have a problem with disgraced journalist Stephen Glass being granted a license to practice law in California, based solely on his fabrication of news stories he was involved in back in the 1990s. But I do have a problem with his application to practice law here when it turns out he lied on his application to the New York State Bar. The CA Supreme Court should reject his application.
Jennifer Anniston wants to spend $1 million to build a runway at her home in Bel Air, to cut hours off of her travel time. Seems that a private airport runway in a residential neighborhood isn't appropriate.
WalMart will earn a bunch of bad will if they refuse to honor bargain basement prices that were available on their website due to a technical glitch. If their management is smart, they'll either honor the prices or find some way to reward those who ordered in "good faith".
John Moffitt walked away from hundreds of thousands of dollars because he wasn't happy playing professional football. Good for him, as long as we don't have to listen to him bemoaning a bad choice decades from now.
Starbucks announced that they plan to hire 10,000 veterans and their spouses over the next five years. Smart move on their part.
The Florida teacher who forced a student to take part in the Pledge of Allegiance, even after the young girl said her religion prohibits worshiping objects got off easy with a five day suspension without pay.
* * *
This Date In History:
1138 – Lý Anh Tông is enthroned as emperor of Vietnam at the age of two, beginning a 37-year reign.
1499 – Publication of the Catholicon in Tréguier (Brittany). This Breton-French-Latin dictionary was written in 1464 by Jehan Lagadeuc. It is the first Breton dictionary as well as the first French dictionary.
1530 – The St. Felix's Flood destroys the city of Reimerswaal in the Netherlands.
1605 – Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is arrested.
1688 – William III of England lands with a Dutch fleet at Brixham, Southwest England.
1757 – Seven Years' War: Frederick the Great defeats the allied armies of France and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Rossbach.
1768 – Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the purpose of which is to adjust the boundary line between Indian lands and white settlements set forth in the Proclamation of 1763 in the Thirteen Colonies.
1780 – French-American forces under Colonel LaBalme are defeated by Miami Chief Little Turtle.
1811 – Salvadoran priest José Matías Delgado, rang the bells of La Merced church in San Salvador, calling for insurrection and launching the 1811 Independence Movement.
1831 – Nat Turner, American slave leader, is tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in Virginia.
1838 – The Federal Republic of Central America begins to disintegrate when Nicaragua separates from the Federation.
1854 – Crimean War: The Battle of Inkerman.
1862 – American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln removes George B. McClellan as commander of the Union Army for the second and final time.
1862 – American Indian Wars: In Minnesota, 303 Dakota warriors are found guilty of rape and murder of whites and are sentenced to hang. 38 are ultimately executed and the others reprieved.
1872 – Women's suffrage in the United States: In defiance of the law, suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time, and is later fined $100.
1895 – George B. Selden is granted the first U.S. patent for an automobile.
1911 – After declaring war on the Ottoman Empire on September 29, 1911, Italy annexes Tripoli and Cyrenaica.
1912 – Woodrow Wilson is elected to the presidency of the United States.
1913 – King Otto of Bavaria is deposed by his cousin, Prince Regent Ludwig, who assumes the title Ludwig III.
1914 – World War I: France and the British Empire declare war on the Ottoman Empire.
1914 – Alpha Phi Delta Fraternity founded at Syracuse University.
1916 – The Kingdom of Poland is proclaimed by the Act of November 5th of the emperors of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
1916 – The Everett Massacre takes place in Everett, Washington as political differences lead to a shoot-out between the Industrial Workers of the World organizers and local police.
1917 – October Revolution: In Tallinn, Estonia, Communist leader Jaan Anvelt leads revolutionaries in overthrowing the Provisional Government (As Estonia and Russia are still using the Julian Calendar, subsequent period references show an October 23 date).
1917 – St. Tikhon of Moscow is elected the Patriarch of Moscow and of the Russian Orthodox Church.
1925 – Secret agent Sidney Reilly, the first "super-spy" of the 20th century, is executed by the OGPU, the secret police of the Soviet Union.
1937 – Adolf Hitler holds a secret meeting and states his plans for acquiring "living space" for the German people.
1943 – World War II: Bombing of the Vatican.
1945 – Colombia joins the United Nations.
1950 – Korean War: British and Australian forces from the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade successfully halted the advancing Chinese 117th Division during the Battle of Pakchon.
1955 – After being destroyed in World War II, the rebuilt Vienna State Opera reopens with a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio.
1967 – The Hither Green rail crash in the United Kingdom kills 49 people. Survivors include Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees.
1970 – Vietnam War: The United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24).
1983 – Byford Dolphin diving bell accident kills five and leaves one severely injured.
1986 – USS Rentz, USS Reeves and USS Oldendorf visit Qingdao (Tsing Tao) China – the first US Naval visit to China since 1949.
1987 – Govan Mbeki is released from custody after serving 24 years of a life sentence for terrorism and treason.
1990 – Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the far-right Kach movement, is shot dead after a speech at a New York City hotel.
1995 – André Dallaire attempts to assassinate Prime Minister Jean Chrétien of Canada. He is thwarted when the Prime Minister's wife locks the door.
1996 – Pakistani President Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari dismisses the government of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and dissolves the National Assembly of Pakistan.
2003 – Green River Killer Gary Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 counts of murder.
2006 – Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq, and his co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar are sentenced to death in the al-Dujail trial for the role in the massacre of the 148 Shi'a Muslims in 1982.
2007 – China's first lunar satellite, Chang'e 1 goes into orbit around the Moon.
2007 – Android mobile operating system is unveiled by Google.
2009 – US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan murders 13 and wounds 29 at Fort Hood, Texas in the deadliest mass shooting at a US military installation.
Famous Folk Born On November 5th:
Ghazan
Hans Sachs
Benjamin Franklin Butler
Will Durant
Natalie Schafer (did you know she was 13 years older than Jim Backus when they were playing husband and wife in "Gilligan's Island"?)
Roy Rogers
Vivien Leigh
Ike Turner
Donald Madden
Elke Sommer
Art Garfunkel
Sam Shepard
Peter Pace
Gram Parsons
Armin Shimerman
Bill Walton
Joyce Maynard
Kris Jenner
Jon-Erik Hexum
Mike Score
Mo Gaffney
Bryan Adams
Tilda Swinton
Andrea McArdle
Tatum O'Neal
Famke Janssen
Sam Rockwell
Corin Nemec
Ryan Adams
Baruto
Movie quotes for today come from the James Bond film "Goldeneye" from 1995, in honor of birthday lady Famke Janssen, who played Bond girl Xenia Onatopp in that movie:
Xenia Onatopp: You don't need the gun, Commander.
James Bond: Well, that depends on your definition of safe sex.
#2
James Bond: Well, I must say, I've had a lovely evening. You?
Xenia Onatopp: Once again the pleasure was all yours.
#3
James Bond: It appears we share the same passions: three, anyway.
Xenia Onatopp: I count two: motoring and, uh, baccarat. I hope the third is where your real talent lies.
James Bond: One rises to meet a challenge.
#4
Xenia Onatopp: [whistles] Shh. I have a small sursprise from your friends back at the barracks.
Helicopter pilot: I think I've gone to heaven.
Xenia Onatopp: Not yet.
[She shoots him]
If my ejection fraction is 35% or below, I get the device. Above 35%, I don't qualify for it. My cardiologist wants me to have it, but I may not qualify to receive it. Seems kind of arbitrary to me. I understand that we have to have limitations on expensive devices and procedures. But when doctors agree something is beneficial and you're right on the borderline, perhaps borderlines should be a bit fuzzy.
I'd say that in a situation like this, if 35% is the current line of demarcation, give the doctors two or three percentage points on either side of the line. If they think it prudent to not do the procedure when the result is 32% or 33%, go with that. If they think it prudent to do the procedure at 37% or 38%, go with their recommendation.
The worst part is I'd finally arranged a good date for that procedure to happen and now it will have to be rescheduled yet again.
* * *
The insurance adjuster was here today. He is of the mind there is additional damage beneath the bumper that isn't visible, and that's why my trunk lid is out of alignment. It locks, and opens/closes without difficulty. So they're going to want to take it to a body shop and pull the bumper off to repair the visible damage and see what else is wrong. I'm guessing I'll be tooling around in a rental car for a week or so.
I will never know for certain if she was texting while driving, or on the phone and holding it up to her ear rather than using hands-free. But I'm willing to wager a lot of these rear-end accidents are caused by one or the other of those bad practices.
If I wasn't adamant before about not using the phone to text or talk (hands-free is okay) in the car, I am now. My friends and family will just have to understand that I will answer their call/text when I get where I'm doing, or when I'm at a stoplight that will last long enough for me to respond. Sitting at a light while texting is safe.
* * *
The Republican Party in general and that portion of it known as the Tea Party in particular, are in trouble. Three years from this week, there will be a presidential election. The question is, can the party nominate someone who is electable, or will the intransigent disaffection of the Tea Party people with anything not involving their agenda result in a nominee who can't beat Hillary Clinton?
If the more moderate Republicans, both in and out of government, don't step up and force a change in direction, they will see a rare event. They will lose their majority in the House during the mid-term elections of a lame-duck president; an election where the opposition almost always gains ground. They have no one to blame but themselves.
There is a strategy that they could employ that would probably avoid this disaster for them. Stop clamoring to repeal Obamacare. Instead, start talking about "fixing" it. Fix it so that there's a way to get everyone into the risk pool without forcing anyone to do anything. In the coming days I will describe one way this might be done.
Then while doing that, launch their own comprehensive program of immigration reform. Fix the problem once and for all. Resolve the issue of those who are presently here illegally and at the same time, resolve that once all of the current illegal immigrants are on a path to being legal residents (or citizens), stop future influxes. Do what other nations do. Enforce our borders. Deport those who enter after a date in the future at some point in the reform process.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Yasser Arafat was probably poisoned. Maybe. No one is 100% sure, only 83% sure. I'll reserve judgment until they get to 100%.
Senator Rand Paul wants to challenge those who are accusing him of plagiarism to a duel. That ought to be interesting.
I guess it is finally time to take the Blockbuster Video card out of my wallet once and for all. The final 300 locations of the once giant video/DVD rental store will be closing soon. I remember hovering around the checkout counter at the location in Manhattan Beach that's now an imaging facility, waiting for the newest films to be returned so I could take them home. I still have my VHS/DVD combo player. It is my only hope of ever being able to watch "Sidekicks" again.
UPI still exists, although one wonders why/how when they do stuff like this. Remember that story about the middle school football coach in Oregon who was fired after he scheduled his team's awards dinner at the local Hooters? Well, they have that story up on their website and they are using a photograph of Hooters girls above the link. Three Hooters girls who work at Hooters in Beijing and have their location on their tight tank tops.
I don't have a problem with disgraced journalist Stephen Glass being granted a license to practice law in California, based solely on his fabrication of news stories he was involved in back in the 1990s. But I do have a problem with his application to practice law here when it turns out he lied on his application to the New York State Bar. The CA Supreme Court should reject his application.
Jennifer Anniston wants to spend $1 million to build a runway at her home in Bel Air, to cut hours off of her travel time. Seems that a private airport runway in a residential neighborhood isn't appropriate.
WalMart will earn a bunch of bad will if they refuse to honor bargain basement prices that were available on their website due to a technical glitch. If their management is smart, they'll either honor the prices or find some way to reward those who ordered in "good faith".
John Moffitt walked away from hundreds of thousands of dollars because he wasn't happy playing professional football. Good for him, as long as we don't have to listen to him bemoaning a bad choice decades from now.
Starbucks announced that they plan to hire 10,000 veterans and their spouses over the next five years. Smart move on their part.
The Florida teacher who forced a student to take part in the Pledge of Allegiance, even after the young girl said her religion prohibits worshiping objects got off easy with a five day suspension without pay.
* * *
This Date In History:
1138 – Lý Anh Tông is enthroned as emperor of Vietnam at the age of two, beginning a 37-year reign.
1499 – Publication of the Catholicon in Tréguier (Brittany). This Breton-French-Latin dictionary was written in 1464 by Jehan Lagadeuc. It is the first Breton dictionary as well as the first French dictionary.
1530 – The St. Felix's Flood destroys the city of Reimerswaal in the Netherlands.
1605 – Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is arrested.
1688 – William III of England lands with a Dutch fleet at Brixham, Southwest England.
1757 – Seven Years' War: Frederick the Great defeats the allied armies of France and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Rossbach.
1768 – Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the purpose of which is to adjust the boundary line between Indian lands and white settlements set forth in the Proclamation of 1763 in the Thirteen Colonies.
1780 – French-American forces under Colonel LaBalme are defeated by Miami Chief Little Turtle.
1811 – Salvadoran priest José Matías Delgado, rang the bells of La Merced church in San Salvador, calling for insurrection and launching the 1811 Independence Movement.
1831 – Nat Turner, American slave leader, is tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in Virginia.
1838 – The Federal Republic of Central America begins to disintegrate when Nicaragua separates from the Federation.
1854 – Crimean War: The Battle of Inkerman.
1862 – American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln removes George B. McClellan as commander of the Union Army for the second and final time.
1862 – American Indian Wars: In Minnesota, 303 Dakota warriors are found guilty of rape and murder of whites and are sentenced to hang. 38 are ultimately executed and the others reprieved.
1872 – Women's suffrage in the United States: In defiance of the law, suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time, and is later fined $100.
1895 – George B. Selden is granted the first U.S. patent for an automobile.
1911 – After declaring war on the Ottoman Empire on September 29, 1911, Italy annexes Tripoli and Cyrenaica.
1912 – Woodrow Wilson is elected to the presidency of the United States.
1913 – King Otto of Bavaria is deposed by his cousin, Prince Regent Ludwig, who assumes the title Ludwig III.
1914 – World War I: France and the British Empire declare war on the Ottoman Empire.
1914 – Alpha Phi Delta Fraternity founded at Syracuse University.
1916 – The Kingdom of Poland is proclaimed by the Act of November 5th of the emperors of Germany and Austria-Hungary.
1916 – The Everett Massacre takes place in Everett, Washington as political differences lead to a shoot-out between the Industrial Workers of the World organizers and local police.
1917 – October Revolution: In Tallinn, Estonia, Communist leader Jaan Anvelt leads revolutionaries in overthrowing the Provisional Government (As Estonia and Russia are still using the Julian Calendar, subsequent period references show an October 23 date).
1917 – St. Tikhon of Moscow is elected the Patriarch of Moscow and of the Russian Orthodox Church.
1925 – Secret agent Sidney Reilly, the first "super-spy" of the 20th century, is executed by the OGPU, the secret police of the Soviet Union.
1937 – Adolf Hitler holds a secret meeting and states his plans for acquiring "living space" for the German people.
1943 – World War II: Bombing of the Vatican.
1945 – Colombia joins the United Nations.
1950 – Korean War: British and Australian forces from the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade successfully halted the advancing Chinese 117th Division during the Battle of Pakchon.
1955 – After being destroyed in World War II, the rebuilt Vienna State Opera reopens with a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio.
1967 – The Hither Green rail crash in the United Kingdom kills 49 people. Survivors include Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees.
1970 – Vietnam War: The United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24).
1983 – Byford Dolphin diving bell accident kills five and leaves one severely injured.
1986 – USS Rentz, USS Reeves and USS Oldendorf visit Qingdao (Tsing Tao) China – the first US Naval visit to China since 1949.
1987 – Govan Mbeki is released from custody after serving 24 years of a life sentence for terrorism and treason.
1990 – Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the far-right Kach movement, is shot dead after a speech at a New York City hotel.
1995 – André Dallaire attempts to assassinate Prime Minister Jean Chrétien of Canada. He is thwarted when the Prime Minister's wife locks the door.
1996 – Pakistani President Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari dismisses the government of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and dissolves the National Assembly of Pakistan.
2003 – Green River Killer Gary Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 counts of murder.
2006 – Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq, and his co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar are sentenced to death in the al-Dujail trial for the role in the massacre of the 148 Shi'a Muslims in 1982.
2007 – China's first lunar satellite, Chang'e 1 goes into orbit around the Moon.
2007 – Android mobile operating system is unveiled by Google.
2009 – US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan murders 13 and wounds 29 at Fort Hood, Texas in the deadliest mass shooting at a US military installation.
Famous Folk Born On November 5th:
Ghazan
Hans Sachs
Benjamin Franklin Butler
Will Durant
Natalie Schafer (did you know she was 13 years older than Jim Backus when they were playing husband and wife in "Gilligan's Island"?)
Roy Rogers
Vivien Leigh
Ike Turner
Donald Madden
Elke Sommer
Art Garfunkel
Sam Shepard
Peter Pace
Gram Parsons
Armin Shimerman
Bill Walton
Joyce Maynard
Kris Jenner
Jon-Erik Hexum
Mike Score
Mo Gaffney
Bryan Adams
Tilda Swinton
Andrea McArdle
Tatum O'Neal
Famke Janssen
Sam Rockwell
Corin Nemec
Ryan Adams
Baruto
Movie quotes for today come from the James Bond film "Goldeneye" from 1995, in honor of birthday lady Famke Janssen, who played Bond girl Xenia Onatopp in that movie:
Xenia Onatopp: You don't need the gun, Commander.
James Bond: Well, that depends on your definition of safe sex.
#2
James Bond: Well, I must say, I've had a lovely evening. You?
Xenia Onatopp: Once again the pleasure was all yours.
#3
James Bond: It appears we share the same passions: three, anyway.
Xenia Onatopp: I count two: motoring and, uh, baccarat. I hope the third is where your real talent lies.
James Bond: One rises to meet a challenge.
#4
Xenia Onatopp: [whistles] Shh. I have a small sursprise from your friends back at the barracks.
Helicopter pilot: I think I've gone to heaven.
Xenia Onatopp: Not yet.
[She shoots him]
posted by me at 6:02 PM
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