North by Northeast

This may or may not be my last post of the year… it depends. Mom is out of the hospital. I’m home today, off work to start her recovery. I have a holiday tomorrow and will probably stay home Friday (I’ll have some vacation time to charge to, a little less impact to thee paycheck). I’m working with her and watching how she does to gage how much help she needs.

Thinking back, way back, this was one hell of a year.  The coming year will be ‘interesting’ to say the least. There are talks going on between the union and management about the employees giving back some of the benefits they won in the last contract, namely having us fore go the following upcoming raises (a total of 6.5%). They are also working to encourage those who are contemplating retirement to retire sooner. We will have 200 vacancies on staff by the end of 2009 and they will not fill any of those positions. That means that 1600 people will have to do the work of 1800 people. That might sound easy but it is not, as we have one of the lowest employee to citizen ratios of a lot of cities. They are even making cuts to police and fire… we will lose 11 sworn officers (the positions are vacant but will not be filled). We are entering a different era, an era of shared sacifice. Everyone will feel it.

In 2009 I start dealing with a new health plan for Mom.. she will no longer be with Kaiser. She is now on meds for her liver (failing), parkinsons, heart meds (congestive heart failure), and a strong med for her stomach (to reduce stomach acid and prevent ulcers). I have to be ready for anything.

In 2009 I have some surery scheduled. I go for a hernia repair and will be down for the count for a week. I have to schedule a colonoscopy, a less than pleasant experience, but if you haven’t had one, think about it. The average American diet breeds colon cancer, so grit your teeth and take the test.  Colon caner is a silent killer, by the time you feel it, you are well on the way to being a dead person.

Now I need to haul some trash, and take Mom out for a ride..

I await the end of the day and what surprises that time may hold. Mom may be cut loose today, I expect that, but await the details as to how well it will be handled. Either way, I’m in limbo. I could just call and find the answer, but that would take the surprise out of it. Let’s see what obstacles I can place in my path and see how I can jump over them.

This op-ed is a good read.  I think the Israelis have a problem and the only solution is treating their neighbors as neighbors and starting to act like humans, not monsters.

It seems that the Catholic Church has been pretty successful at sweeping the sexually abusive priests under the rug and keeping the scandal at a low profile lately, but there are a few people who are still fighting for the victims. Unfortunately you have some bishops who don’t take criticism well and think they are not going to live by the laws of society but with use the draconian law of the church to silence critics. This is not an isolated incidence with ‘threats ‘ made against politicians who don’t go along with church doctrine (dogma).

These within the Catholic Church seem to think they have a monopoly on forgiveness and own the keys to the gates to heaven. I’m sorry to say that some of these same high church officials and power elite with soon be standing at the gates of hell for what they have done to protect those who abused and damaged the lives of countless children world wide.

Imagine!  If only we can make these words and song come true…. we need it today.

I’m awake…

It seems the Republican Party has become the new party of racist agenda… as the potential leadership resorts to ‘parody’ to disguise its racist tone, all I can say is the party will be the “party of dumb white trailer trash who blame their ignorance on civil rights and racial equality” (that’s parody of course)

Well to start, yesterday Mom threatened the xray tech and he refused to do the xray, so the surgeon is going to use another method. Like the surgeon said, it will be done.  It seems the people at Kaiser Riverside aren’t used to slightly wacko elderly people so they were on the defensive today. The surgeon said they need to come to grips with the real world.

The surgeon said her behavior and demeanor can be attributed to high levels of ammonia in her blood from a barely functional liver.  As her liver fails (it eventually will) she will just act more irrational.

Kaiser said they will continue the treatment till she is able to be released under the rules of their medicare contract.

It seems Israel would rather fight wars and kill than live within the rules of civilization. The latest airstikes are a bit over the top. All that Israel does is make Hamas stronger.

They harass and block Gaza in order to change a democratically elected government, then wonder why Hamas attacks them. Maybe if they put as much energy into the peace process and halt the illegal settlements, we might be able to see peace.

Unfortunately the people in power in Israel play to the fringe elements, thus they don’t want peace, the want more territory and will never let Palestine exist.

When will we find a government in Washington that will say no to Israel? I doubt if we will see that day in our lifetime.

Things I would rather be doing are put aside… I’ll spend the day with Mom, as she is being (acting) like a little kid, being a pain for the nurses and doctors, refusing to cooperate. Thus I’ll be there to hold her hand and scold her when she acts out. This is going to be a fun day.