My turn for an open letter
This is an open letter to several groups of people, one group at a time. First, to all the people who are saying that someone should just go on down to wherever Jahi McMath is and pull the plug since the parents aren't willing to do so:
Sit down and shut up. You have every right to express yourself on this issue. But, it isn't for you to act. This is between the family and the medical community, involving the legal system. You weren't invited in. If you are really stupid enough to act on your idiotic comments, you belong in a padded cell.
Next, to the people who are sending death threats to Natasha Leggero over her comments about the elderly veterans who are survivors of Pearl Harbor.
Sit down and shut up. Death threats over words? Really? Calm down. Take a chill pill if needed.
To the members of Congress who are about to go back to work. Do something worthwhile this year and next. Start with the unemployment situation for the long-term unemployed. Since you are apparently incapable of getting the economy to create jobs that pay a living wage, and are unwilling to do anything about the income inequality gap in this country, fix something you can fix. Find a way to make it work. Those who do will be rewarded in November. Those who do not will also get their just reward in November. At least I hope they do.
To all of my friends and to my family. My best wishes for a healthy, happy, prosperous 2014.
* * *
I'm confused. On January 4, 2014, Nailah Wakefield, mother of Jahi McMath said that Jahi was "improving" and "I see her getting better."
Now, on January 6, 2014, the family's lawyer says she was "wasting away" at Children's Hospital, because they weren't caring for her properly.
You can't have it both ways. If she was improving, she wasn't wasting away. If she was wasting away, she wasn't improving.
This is an unfair issue to be "tried" in the press, because the family isn't limited in what they say; and they get the kid-glove treatment because of the tragedy they have suffered. The hospital is bound by privacy laws and limited in what they can and can't say.
The neurologist who says there's no such thing as brain death has an agenda. He may or may not have a point and I'll leave that to the doctors and experts in bio-ethics to argue. But that he has an agenda cannot be ignored.
Now she's out of the hospital. Hopefully we won't hear anything else about this anytime soon.
Interestingly, as long as the family insists on keeping her on a ventilator, they can't sue for wrongful death and expect to prevail, even with a death certificate having been issued. The coroner's death certificate is incomplete because cause of death must be determined by an autopsy in this case. The longer her body is being kept alive by a ventilator, the more difficult it will be to determine the cause of death.
* * *
Interestingly, people giving large tips to servers in 2013 seems to be continuing An 18 year old waitress told the two customers she was serving at table 222 at a Cracker Barrel in Nebraska about how she couldn't return to college for the spring semester because she lacked funds, and that she was going to save her wages and tips until she could. They left her a $100 tip (she had to split that with another server) but then the man wrote out two checks for her. One for $5,000 to cover her tuition and another for $1,000 for whatever else she might need.
A survey done by our federal government says that the #2 New Year's resolution in the U.S. this year is to help others. That resolution trailed only the annual leader, to lose weight.
I wonder if we will continue to read about gigantic gratuities and people helping others in 2014. It should be an interesting year.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
I admire UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley for choosing to return for his junior year, to take a shot at getting to the Rose Bowl, or possibly compete for a National Championship, rather than taking big bucks and jumping to the NFL.
Did a Hawthorne, CA man really run over his own dog deliberately? Disgusting!!
Tickets to today's BCS championship game are selling at nearly $100 below face value on Stub Hub. Guess they aren't a great investment after all.
Wolf Blitzer just said that Hilary Clinton is the most powerful woman in the world. Wonder what Angela Merkel, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner would think of that statement? Just FYI, Wolf, Forbes Magazine puts both Michelle Obama and Melinda Gates ahead of Ms Clinton on their list of the world's most powerful women.
Would someone who has access to him tell Charlie Sheen to stop having flame wars with the mothers of his children on Twitter? It's boring and inappropriate.
Apparently Siri of iPhone fame is a bit jealous of "Samantha", the operating system from the movie "Her". Just ask her if she is Samantha and see for yourself.
Would you play in a fantasy football league where if you're the loser, you have to get a tattoo like this:
Rather than shaming children who cyberbully by making them hold up signs and sell their tablets, iPhones, etc; parents of these kids should make them apologize and then spend time volunteering in service to others.
Did you know that Mary Kay Letourneau has been married to the man who was a 12 year old student when he fathered his first child with her, since 2005? I don't remember hearing that.
J. R. Smith shouldn't be fined for untying Shawn Marion's shoe during an NBA game, he should be made to stand in the corner of the court for 30 minutes during a game. What a child.
* * *
January 6th in History:
1066 – Harold Godwinson (or Harold II) is crowned King of England.
1118 – Reconquista: Alfonso the Battler conquers Zaragoza.
1205 – Philip of Swabia becomes King of the Romans.
1322 – Stephen Uroš III is crowned King of Serbia.
1355 – Charles I of Bohemia is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy as King of Italy in Milan.
1449 – Constantine XI is crowned Byzantine Emperor at Mystras.
1492 – Ferdinand and Isabella The Catholic Monarchs enter Granada, completing the Reconquista.
1540 – King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves.
1579 – The Union of Arras is signed.
1661 – English Restoration: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London, England.
1690 – Joseph, son of Emperor Leopold I, becomes King of the Romans.
1721 – The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble publishes its findings.
1781 – In the Battle of Jersey, the British defeat the last attempt by France to invade Jersey.
1809 – Combined British, Portuguese and colonial Brazilian forces begin the Invasion of Cayenne during the Napoleonic Wars.
1838 – Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
1839 – The most damaging storm in 300 years sweeps across Ireland, damaging or destroying more than 20% of the houses in Dublin.
1853 – President-elect of the United States Franklin Pierce and his family are involved in a train wreck near Andover, Massachusetts. Pierce's 11-year-old son Benjamin is killed in the crash.
1870 – The inauguration of the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria.
1893 – The Washington National Cathedral is chartered by Congress. The charter is signed by President Benjamin Harrison.
1900 – Second Boer War: Having already sieged the fortress at Ladysmith, Boer forces attack it, but are driven back by British defenders.
1907 – Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome, Italy.
1912 – New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state.
1912 – German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presents his theory of continental drift.
1921 – Formation of the Iraqi Army.
1929 – King Alexander of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes suspends his country's constitution (the January 6th Dictatorship).
1929 – Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta, India to begin her work among India's poorest and sick people.
1930 – The first diesel-engined automobile trip is completed, from Indianapolis, Indiana, to New York, New York.
1931 – Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.
1941 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address.
1947 – Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to schedule a flight around the world.
1950 – The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with the UK in response.
1951 – Ganghwa massacre: Korean War.
1953 – The first Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma.
1960 – National Airlines Flight 2511 is destroyed in mid-air by a bomb, while en route from New York City to Miami, Florida.
1960 – The Associations Law comes into force in Iraq, allowing registration of political parties.
1967 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta.
1974 – In response to the 1973 oil crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States.
1978 – The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II.
1992 – President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia flees the country as a result of the military coup.
1993 – Indian Border Security Force units kill 55 Kashmiri civilians in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, in revenge after militants ambushed a BSF patrol.
1994 – Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the knee at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, Michigan.
1995 – A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack.
2005 – American Civil Rights Movement: Edgar Ray Killen is arrested as a suspect in the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers.
2005 – A train collision in Graniteville, South Carolina, releases about 60 tons of chlorine gas.
2009 – Israel conducts an assault on Gaza. Operation Cast Lead
Famous Folk Born On This Date:
Richard II of England
Joan of Arc
James Madison Porter
Carl Sandburg
Tom Mix
Sam Rayburn
Kahlil Gibran
Loretta Young
Early Wynn
Earl Scruggs
John DeLorean
Ralph Branca
Kid Gavilan
Mickey Hargitay
Vic Tayback
Lou Holtz
Bonnie Franklin
Louis Freeh
Rowan Atkinson
Nancy Lopez
Nigella Lawson
Denise Borino
Julie Chen
Movie quotes today come from "Four Weddings and a Funeral" as it is Rowan Atkinson's birthday today:
[at second wedding]
Mrs. Beaumont: Are you married?
Fiona: No.
Mrs. Beaumont: Are you a lesbian?
Fiona: Good lord! What makes you ask that?
Mrs. Beaumont: Well, it is one of the possibilites for unmarried girls nowadays, and it's rather more interesting than saying, "Oh dear, never met the right chap," eh?
Fiona: Quite right. Why be dull?
Mrs. Beaumont: Thank you.
[pause]
Fiona: The truth is... well, the truth is, I have met the right person, and he's not in love with me, and until I stop loving him, no one else really has a chance.
Mrs. Beaumont: Oh, what a shame.
Fiona: Yes, isn't it?
[another pause]
Fiona: I was a lesbian once at school, but only for about fifteen minutes.
#2
Henrietta: Charles! Charles, we must talk.
Charles: Right.
Henrietta: The thing is, Charlie, l've spoken to lots of people about you. Everybody agrees you're in real trouble, Charles.
Charles: Am l?
Henrietta: You see, you're turning into a kind of serial monogamist. One girlfriend after another, yet you never really let anyone near you. On the contrary... You're affectionate to them and sweet to them. Even to me, although you thought I was an idiot.
Charles: I did not.
Henrietta: You did. I thought U2 was a type of submarine.
Charles: In a way, you were right. Their music has a naval quality.
Henrietta: Be serious, Charles. Give people a chance. You don't have to think 'I must get married', but you mustn't start relationships thinking 'I mustn't get married'.
Charles: Most of the time I don't think at all. I just potter along.
Henrietta: Charlie! Oh, God! The way you used to look at me! I just misread it, that's all. I thought you were going to propose and you were just working out how to leave.
#3
Carrie: First of all, l'd like to thank all of you who've flown in from the States. I'm really touched. As for the rest of you, l'd have thought that lots of frightful Americans flying in was an excuse for staying away, so I thank you, too.
#4
Father Gerald: In the name of the father, the son, and the holy spigot. Spirit!
Sit down and shut up. You have every right to express yourself on this issue. But, it isn't for you to act. This is between the family and the medical community, involving the legal system. You weren't invited in. If you are really stupid enough to act on your idiotic comments, you belong in a padded cell.
Next, to the people who are sending death threats to Natasha Leggero over her comments about the elderly veterans who are survivors of Pearl Harbor.
Sit down and shut up. Death threats over words? Really? Calm down. Take a chill pill if needed.
To the members of Congress who are about to go back to work. Do something worthwhile this year and next. Start with the unemployment situation for the long-term unemployed. Since you are apparently incapable of getting the economy to create jobs that pay a living wage, and are unwilling to do anything about the income inequality gap in this country, fix something you can fix. Find a way to make it work. Those who do will be rewarded in November. Those who do not will also get their just reward in November. At least I hope they do.
To all of my friends and to my family. My best wishes for a healthy, happy, prosperous 2014.
* * *
I'm confused. On January 4, 2014, Nailah Wakefield, mother of Jahi McMath said that Jahi was "improving" and "I see her getting better."
Now, on January 6, 2014, the family's lawyer says she was "wasting away" at Children's Hospital, because they weren't caring for her properly.
You can't have it both ways. If she was improving, she wasn't wasting away. If she was wasting away, she wasn't improving.
This is an unfair issue to be "tried" in the press, because the family isn't limited in what they say; and they get the kid-glove treatment because of the tragedy they have suffered. The hospital is bound by privacy laws and limited in what they can and can't say.
The neurologist who says there's no such thing as brain death has an agenda. He may or may not have a point and I'll leave that to the doctors and experts in bio-ethics to argue. But that he has an agenda cannot be ignored.
Now she's out of the hospital. Hopefully we won't hear anything else about this anytime soon.
Interestingly, as long as the family insists on keeping her on a ventilator, they can't sue for wrongful death and expect to prevail, even with a death certificate having been issued. The coroner's death certificate is incomplete because cause of death must be determined by an autopsy in this case. The longer her body is being kept alive by a ventilator, the more difficult it will be to determine the cause of death.
* * *
Interestingly, people giving large tips to servers in 2013 seems to be continuing An 18 year old waitress told the two customers she was serving at table 222 at a Cracker Barrel in Nebraska about how she couldn't return to college for the spring semester because she lacked funds, and that she was going to save her wages and tips until she could. They left her a $100 tip (she had to split that with another server) but then the man wrote out two checks for her. One for $5,000 to cover her tuition and another for $1,000 for whatever else she might need.
A survey done by our federal government says that the #2 New Year's resolution in the U.S. this year is to help others. That resolution trailed only the annual leader, to lose weight.
I wonder if we will continue to read about gigantic gratuities and people helping others in 2014. It should be an interesting year.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
I admire UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley for choosing to return for his junior year, to take a shot at getting to the Rose Bowl, or possibly compete for a National Championship, rather than taking big bucks and jumping to the NFL.
Did a Hawthorne, CA man really run over his own dog deliberately? Disgusting!!
Tickets to today's BCS championship game are selling at nearly $100 below face value on Stub Hub. Guess they aren't a great investment after all.
Wolf Blitzer just said that Hilary Clinton is the most powerful woman in the world. Wonder what Angela Merkel, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner would think of that statement? Just FYI, Wolf, Forbes Magazine puts both Michelle Obama and Melinda Gates ahead of Ms Clinton on their list of the world's most powerful women.
Would someone who has access to him tell Charlie Sheen to stop having flame wars with the mothers of his children on Twitter? It's boring and inappropriate.
Apparently Siri of iPhone fame is a bit jealous of "Samantha", the operating system from the movie "Her". Just ask her if she is Samantha and see for yourself.
Would you play in a fantasy football league where if you're the loser, you have to get a tattoo like this:
Rather than shaming children who cyberbully by making them hold up signs and sell their tablets, iPhones, etc; parents of these kids should make them apologize and then spend time volunteering in service to others.
Did you know that Mary Kay Letourneau has been married to the man who was a 12 year old student when he fathered his first child with her, since 2005? I don't remember hearing that.
J. R. Smith shouldn't be fined for untying Shawn Marion's shoe during an NBA game, he should be made to stand in the corner of the court for 30 minutes during a game. What a child.
* * *
January 6th in History:
1066 – Harold Godwinson (or Harold II) is crowned King of England.
1118 – Reconquista: Alfonso the Battler conquers Zaragoza.
1205 – Philip of Swabia becomes King of the Romans.
1322 – Stephen Uroš III is crowned King of Serbia.
1355 – Charles I of Bohemia is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy as King of Italy in Milan.
1449 – Constantine XI is crowned Byzantine Emperor at Mystras.
1492 – Ferdinand and Isabella The Catholic Monarchs enter Granada, completing the Reconquista.
1540 – King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves.
1579 – The Union of Arras is signed.
1661 – English Restoration: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London, England.
1690 – Joseph, son of Emperor Leopold I, becomes King of the Romans.
1721 – The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble publishes its findings.
1781 – In the Battle of Jersey, the British defeat the last attempt by France to invade Jersey.
1809 – Combined British, Portuguese and colonial Brazilian forces begin the Invasion of Cayenne during the Napoleonic Wars.
1838 – Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
1839 – The most damaging storm in 300 years sweeps across Ireland, damaging or destroying more than 20% of the houses in Dublin.
1853 – President-elect of the United States Franklin Pierce and his family are involved in a train wreck near Andover, Massachusetts. Pierce's 11-year-old son Benjamin is killed in the crash.
1870 – The inauguration of the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria.
1893 – The Washington National Cathedral is chartered by Congress. The charter is signed by President Benjamin Harrison.
1900 – Second Boer War: Having already sieged the fortress at Ladysmith, Boer forces attack it, but are driven back by British defenders.
1907 – Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome, Italy.
1912 – New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state.
1912 – German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presents his theory of continental drift.
1921 – Formation of the Iraqi Army.
1929 – King Alexander of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes suspends his country's constitution (the January 6th Dictatorship).
1929 – Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta, India to begin her work among India's poorest and sick people.
1930 – The first diesel-engined automobile trip is completed, from Indianapolis, Indiana, to New York, New York.
1931 – Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.
1941 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address.
1947 – Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to schedule a flight around the world.
1950 – The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with the UK in response.
1951 – Ganghwa massacre: Korean War.
1953 – The first Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma.
1960 – National Airlines Flight 2511 is destroyed in mid-air by a bomb, while en route from New York City to Miami, Florida.
1960 – The Associations Law comes into force in Iraq, allowing registration of political parties.
1967 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta.
1974 – In response to the 1973 oil crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States.
1978 – The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II.
1992 – President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia flees the country as a result of the military coup.
1993 – Indian Border Security Force units kill 55 Kashmiri civilians in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, in revenge after militants ambushed a BSF patrol.
1994 – Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the knee at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, Michigan.
1995 – A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack.
2005 – American Civil Rights Movement: Edgar Ray Killen is arrested as a suspect in the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers.
2005 – A train collision in Graniteville, South Carolina, releases about 60 tons of chlorine gas.
2009 – Israel conducts an assault on Gaza. Operation Cast Lead
Famous Folk Born On This Date:
Richard II of England
Joan of Arc
James Madison Porter
Carl Sandburg
Tom Mix
Sam Rayburn
Kahlil Gibran
Loretta Young
Early Wynn
Earl Scruggs
John DeLorean
Ralph Branca
Kid Gavilan
Mickey Hargitay
Vic Tayback
Lou Holtz
Bonnie Franklin
Louis Freeh
Rowan Atkinson
Nancy Lopez
Nigella Lawson
Denise Borino
Julie Chen
Movie quotes today come from "Four Weddings and a Funeral" as it is Rowan Atkinson's birthday today:
[at second wedding]
Mrs. Beaumont: Are you married?
Fiona: No.
Mrs. Beaumont: Are you a lesbian?
Fiona: Good lord! What makes you ask that?
Mrs. Beaumont: Well, it is one of the possibilites for unmarried girls nowadays, and it's rather more interesting than saying, "Oh dear, never met the right chap," eh?
Fiona: Quite right. Why be dull?
Mrs. Beaumont: Thank you.
[pause]
Fiona: The truth is... well, the truth is, I have met the right person, and he's not in love with me, and until I stop loving him, no one else really has a chance.
Mrs. Beaumont: Oh, what a shame.
Fiona: Yes, isn't it?
[another pause]
Fiona: I was a lesbian once at school, but only for about fifteen minutes.
#2
Henrietta: Charles! Charles, we must talk.
Charles: Right.
Henrietta: The thing is, Charlie, l've spoken to lots of people about you. Everybody agrees you're in real trouble, Charles.
Charles: Am l?
Henrietta: You see, you're turning into a kind of serial monogamist. One girlfriend after another, yet you never really let anyone near you. On the contrary... You're affectionate to them and sweet to them. Even to me, although you thought I was an idiot.
Charles: I did not.
Henrietta: You did. I thought U2 was a type of submarine.
Charles: In a way, you were right. Their music has a naval quality.
Henrietta: Be serious, Charles. Give people a chance. You don't have to think 'I must get married', but you mustn't start relationships thinking 'I mustn't get married'.
Charles: Most of the time I don't think at all. I just potter along.
Henrietta: Charlie! Oh, God! The way you used to look at me! I just misread it, that's all. I thought you were going to propose and you were just working out how to leave.
#3
Carrie: First of all, l'd like to thank all of you who've flown in from the States. I'm really touched. As for the rest of you, l'd have thought that lots of frightful Americans flying in was an excuse for staying away, so I thank you, too.
#4
Father Gerald: In the name of the father, the son, and the holy spigot. Spirit!
posted by me at 4:31 PM
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