Random Thoughts

Unthinkable

I don’t have the words…

This tragedy just continues to echo around us. The depth and breadth of suffering is unthinkable.

Elsewhere, the Anchoress has a powerful update on Haiti.

And here is an inside scoop from the aid efforts of the USNS Comfort (H/T Confederate Yankee).

My dead grandma, and the everpresent O

Welcome to Build a Straw Man Argument 101. At the lectern today is Professor Obama.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Now, it’s personal. President Barack Obama invoked his own anguish over the death of a loved one as he challenged the debunked notion that Democratic efforts to overhaul the nation’s health care would include “death panels.” “I just lost my grandmother last year. I know what it’s like to watch somebody you love, who’s aging, deteriorate and have to struggle with that,” an impassioned Obama told a crowd as he spoke of Madelyn Payne Dunham. He took issue with “the notion that somehow I ran for public office or members of Congress are in this so they can go around pulling the plug on grandma.”

My father died of cancer too. It was a painful, heartwrenching experience to watch him “deterorite” as well, Mr. President. Nice appeal to pity though. And your point is…?

For what it’s worth, I don’t think–I doubt anyone does–that Obama ran for public office in order to off granny. I think he did it because his ego compelled him to do it. The same reason he has his own special logo to slap on everything he pushes; the Presidential seal used by so many other ordinary men before him just isn’t enough. I can’t recall any other politician continuing to use a campaign logo after they’d taken office, much less a sitting president. Maybe this is just part of all that “change.”

I know that Rush Limbaugh made the comparision, but I could not figure out what the caduceus had to do with the Third Reich, until I went looking. It IS an unfortunate image to parallel, but hey, it looks like what it looks like.

The caduceus, a symbol typically used in North America to represent medicine:

The Reichsadler, a symbol of Nazi Germany (throughout Europe stone versions of these with the swastika chiseled away still remain on buildings):

How Obama chooses to brand his health care plan:

Perhaps Obama ought to ditch the O marketing graphic already, ’cause it is not helping. He surely does have a penchant for altering seals that really ought to be left alone. You’d think he would have learned back in Chicago in ‘08.

The reason I’m harping on visual images, and the ego that underlies them, is that this man’s ego matters. It matters a lot. It is the impelling force behind his actions (ego drives every one of us to some extent). Balanced by wisdom, a healthy ego can make for good leadership.

I’m waiting for evidence of wisdom, because thus far it has been sadly wanting. Neo-neocon presents a starkly revealing illustration of the lack of wisdom inherent in Obama presuming to lecture on health care reform:

…in thinking about Obama and the amputation remarks, there’s a great deal more that’s troubling in what he said. His statement was part of a tendency of his to speak out authoritatively on matters about which he knows nothing or almost nothing.

One of the most off-putting things about Obama is his arrogance. And it’s not just a personal arrogance, it’s an intellectual arrogance as well. The most dangerous ignorance is the ignorance of a person who doesn’t know what he/she doesn’t know. And it’s even more dangerous when someone who fits that description—Barack Obama—is in a position of great power and filled with the righteousness of his cause, as well as the ruthlessness of the true believer.

…It’s clear that Obama’s statement about diabetic care is riddled with difficulties, some of them obvious and some of them only emerging after deeper reflection. Are Obama’s critical thinking skills really that poor? Is his judgment that bad? Is his grasp of these really rather elementary concepts that weak? Or is it that he just cannot stop lying to the American people in order to attempt to reach his health care reform goals?

I think that the answer is “Yes” to all of the above. I also think this is becoming clearer with each month the man is in office. It is going to be a long four years indeed.

If you’ve got your health…

So, if I write about Youngest Son coming home from a week at camp only to come down with swine flu–which he then lovingly shared with both his parents–I’m inviting a string of spam about A(H1NI) and Tamiflu, aren’t I.

*sigh*

It really is no worse than any other type of flu. Of course I haven’t had any other type of flu in at least 15 years, so it hit me like a cement truck. But I do not have Obamacare, I have good old Blue Cross PPO. And that means that when I woke up sick, I went to the doctor of my choosing and got the drugs I needed at the pharmacy of my choosing and within 24 hours my fever was gone, and now, three days later, I am feeling considerably better.

Of course my health care is not free, but you, dear reader, are not paying for it out of your taxes either. MrRandomThoughts pays for it in part out of his salary, as a subscriber to the medical coverage provided by his employer.

It ain’t broke here, Miz Pelosi, please don’t go fixin’ it. At the very least, don’t go telling me the government running health care is going to solve anything. That’s just another lie amidst all the lies being told about this scheme…

…the president claimed the plan will not lead to rationing. But the bill, on page 30, section 123, would create a “Health Benefits Advisory Committee” that would make determinations about what kinds of treatments, items and services can be covered within certain benefit classes, and what kind of cost sharing will occur.

Oh swell. That will solve everything.

It is so darned hard sometimes not to judge the book by the cover.

Some more related thoughts…I’ve not been a big John Mackey fan (his Wild Oats messageboard stunt put me off) but I am a major Whole Foods shopper. Now I’m doubly glad they have my patronage. (H/T Gayle Miller).

In his [Wall Street Journal] op-ed, “The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare,” published Tuesday, [Whole Foods CEO] John Mackey criticized President Barack Obama’s health care plan.

Mackey provided eight “reforms” he argued the U.S. can do to improve health care without increasing the deficit. He suggested that tax forms be revised to “make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance.”

Mackey also called for a move toward “less government control and more individual empowerment” instead of “a massive new health care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits.

This published reaction, on the other hand, is the epitome of everything I find so very moronic about liberalism:

Christine Taylor, a 34-year-old New Jersey shopper, vowed never to step foot in another Whole Foods again.

“I will no longer be shopping at Whole Foods,” Taylor told ABCNews.com. “I think a CEO should take care that if he speaks about politics, that his beliefs reflect at least the majority of his clients.”

Excuse me for a moment while I pound my forehead against the keyboard at the sight of such asininity.

Never mind how ridiculous it is to be spiteful about logically expressed concerns and valid suggested alternatives to a serious issue. Mr. Mackey’s beliefs are HIS beliefs. They do not have to reflect the majority of ANYONE else’s beliefs, much less what someone presumes are the “majority of his clients.”

I’m very conservative. I would bet Ms. Taylor real hard earned money that I spend more of it at my local Whole Foods than she does at hers. Seriously. Whole Foods and the local Farmer’s Market are just about the only places I shop (save for buying cat food and paper products at a major supermarket chain). And I’ve been shopping at my local Whole Foods for over 29 years, since it was a Mrs. Gooch’s, back when Ms. Taylor was too young to know what “organic” even meant.

I know what my city’s Whole Foods’ clientele is comprised of: Mostly upper middle class, fairly well educated people who are not about to give up access to Strauss milk and wild King salmon just because they may have voted for The One back in ‘08. Chances are, like an increasing percentage of the country, they’re not digging this health care plan either.

Ms. Taylor should go ahead and boycott though.  Meanwhile, I won’t have to deal with people like her grabbing the fresh asparagus before I can get to it.

Mackey’s argument is a sound one, worth reading. And I do appreciate his opening quote from Margaret Thatcher…

“The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”

Indeed.

Maybe Al Franken could do something…

99% of the time, I think the government should stay the heck out of people’s lives.

This is not one of those times.

MINNEAPOLIS – A Minnesota judge ruled Friday that a 13-year-old cancer patient must be evaluated by a doctor to determine if the boy would benefit from restarting chemotherapy over his parents’ objections…

Daniel was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and stopped chemotherapy in February after a single treatment. He and his parents opted instead for alternative medicines based on their religious beliefs.

Child protection workers accused Daniel’s parents of medical neglect; but in court, his mother insisted the boy wouldn’t submit to chemotherapy for religious reasons and she said she wouldn’t comply if the court orders it.

Doctors have said Daniel’s cancer had up to a 90 percent chance of being cured with chemotherapy and radiation. Without those treatments, doctors said his chances of survival are 5 percent.

Daniel’s parents have been supporting what they say is their son’s decision to treat the disease with nutritional supplements and other alternative treatments favored by the Nemenhah Band.

The Missouri-based religious group believes in natural healing methods advocated by some American Indians…

“My son is not in any medical danger at this point,” Colleen Hauser testified at a court hearing last week. She also testified that Daniel is a medicine man and elder in the Nemenhah Band.

The family’s attorney, Calvin Johnson, said Daniel made the decision himself to refuse chemotherapy, but Brown County said he did not have an understanding of what it meant to be a medicine man or an elder.

Court filings also indicated Daniel has a learning disability and can’t read.

You have to prove you’re competent before you get a license to drive a car, but any damned fool can have a child. I’ve seen dogs that are better parents than the Hausers purport to be.

People in closed containers…

You simply can not make this stuff up.

Joe Biden seems to be “a little off of the Administration’s talking points.” Ya think?!

Gateway Pundit points out the Administration’s subsequent spin efforts.

And Barack’s Telemprompter (I adore that machine) provides us with a screen’s eye view of Biden’s capabilities.

Why do they let this man out in public?

Turning from the inane to the worthwhile: The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes.

Highly readable and downright prescient given today’s economy. While examining the ambitions and failures of Roosevelt’s New Deal and government intervention, Shlaes also details the leadership of individual Americans who helped restore our country. By turns engaging and thought provoking, this is a must-read for those who don’t want history to repeat itself.

Now, please tell me the weekend is almost here. I don’t think I can take any more Obama Administration asininity this week.

Where’d I put that filter mask…

I’m thinking of taking the family down to San Diego, which of course is right near the Mexico border. Should I be worried about swine flu, given the proximity to it’s epicenter?

Well our illustrious new Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano is on top of the situation.

Travel advisories have not been issued by the State Department, Napolitano said, nor is the United States going to screen passengers on flights arriving from Mexico.

I fully expect her to proclaim that swine flu is entering the US from Canada.

It’s reassuring as well to know that The One is being kept up to date on this situation. The lack of a Health and Human Services Director during such an incipient crisis is unimportant; perhaps Timothy Geithner can pitch in there if needed. He’s about as qualified for that role as he is to be in charge of the IRS.

Now that Obama’s been proven invulnerable to the disease, I predict sales of votive candles will skyrocket, especially south of the border. (H/T Pamela Gellar at Atlas Shrugs).

Was that callous of me? Ooops. It’s not that I don’t care that people are dying in Mexico, or that we might face a pandemic. I just don’t think Barack Obama is going to have anything whatsoever to do with saving American lives in this situation.

If we’re very very lucky, he’ll end up looking like Gerald Ford. A gal can dream…

In all seriousness, if they start pushing vaccines, I’m so not going there.

How to save a life…

Taking a step back from the ongoing Obama saga and the messed up economy to focus on something very close to home…

This is Malachi Smith. I’ve known Malachi’s daddy and mommy since before their marriage, when Malachi’s daddy Wes Smith coached Eldest Son in track and cross country running. I went to their wedding. I rejoiced at the birth of their two little boys, Ethan, now 3 1/2 and Malachi, now 2.

My heart broke at the following news:

Donor sought for precious gift

By Rhiannon Potkey
Thursday, March 12, 2009

After another restless night of sleep, Wes Smith wakes up groggy and still tired.

The Oaks Christian School track coach and head trainer yearns for the comfort of his own mattress and not a hospital bed.

Smith wonders how he will make it through practice or organize this week’s upcoming meet.

But any discomfort passes once he sees the smile adorning his little boy’s face.

Smith’s 2-year-old son, Malachi, has leukemia and has been undergoing intensive chemotherapy treatments.

Wes recently spent 39 consecutive nights by his son’s side at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. His wife, Rachel, who cares for their 3-year son Ethan at night, takes over during the day.

“It’s been a challenge,” Wes said. “But it isn’t a perfect world and we know these things happen. Our faith in God and support of our family, work and church gives us strength.”

Those support systems are hoping to help the family in a big way on Friday.

Malachi is in need of a bone marrow transplant, and Oaks Christian is holding the “Marrow 4 Malachi Drive” from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

People will be able to register with the National Marrow Donor Program by filling out a consent form, paying $25 and having their cheek swabbed.

Donors must be between 18 and 60 years old and willing to donate to any patient in need if they meet health guidelines.

The drive was organized by Oaks Christian soccer player Kelly Johnson and her mother Valerie.

They have been posting fliers around town, and Kelly gave a presentation to the Oaks Christian students last week asking everybody to recruit at least one adult for the drive.

“If it is not Kai who finds a match, then maybe it is someone else,” Wes Smith said. “We want people to contribute to the registry one way or another and expand the reach or impact of our experience.”

Malachi “Kai” Smith was born June 9, 2006, and diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at the age of 13 months.

ALL is a cancer of the white blood cells in the body that normally fight infections.

It’s the most common cancer in children, and occurs in about one of every 29,000 children in the United States each year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Kai went into remission after a month, but his parents noticed his symptoms returning last December. The doctors soon confirmed the leukemia had relapsed.

Kai’s parents were told he had a 90 percent survival rate after the initial diagnosis. But the relapse diagnosis was more grim.

“The statistics the second time around are a 1 in 4 chance of survival,” Wes said. “That was a little tougher to process.”

It’s been yet another medical ordeal for young Kai to endure.

Before being diagnosed with leukemia, Kai had surgery at 28 days old to repair plyoric stenosis — the narrowing of part of the stomach that leads into the small intestines.

“It’s like, ‘Holy mackerel, the poor kid hasn’t even gotten started yet and he’s been hit twice,’ ” Wes said. “But in a different generation, he might have been dead twice, so I am thankful for modern medicine in that regard.”

But Kai has handled each hurdle like one of his dad’s star sprinters on the track team.

“He is just a happy kid and has kind of won the hearts of the nurses and staff at the hospital,” Wes said. “He always has a bubbly personality and even calls one of the nurses his girlfriend. She eats it up. It’s funny, when he walks out of the hospital, he gets this big ovation.”

Although family remains Wes’ top priority, coaching track and field gives him an outlet for a few hours each day.

“The opportunity to interact with kids is what I enjoy the most,” he said. “I consider coaching more ministry than an occupation, and it has been humbling how supportive the kids are.”

Wes and his wife don’t easily accept gifts, but they have learned to value the meaning behind them.

The family recently received a $5,000 donation from the Talbert Family Foundation to help with medical expenses. The foundation also sent $500 for the bone marrow drive to cover the cost for those who can’t pay the $25.

“By nature we are always trying to give to other people, not take,” Wes said. “But it is coming back at us almost faster than we can give it up. It really blows me away.”

Wes was hesitant about naming his son Malachi. But after reading the Bible’s book of Malachi in the Old Testament, he changed his mind.

Malachi means “Messenger of God,” and Wes thought it would be cool if his son grew up to be a preacher.

“Now I think maybe his message may not be one he is giving, but the impact he is having on people’s lives as they watch us go through these trials,” Wes said. “It’s a growing experience not just for us, but for people who come to hear the story.”

Donating bone marrow isn’t painless, but it’s such a small thing to do to save a child’s life. Maybe you can’t save Malachi, but there are thousands of children waiting for a donor. Maybe you could save one of them. I don’t know about you, but I find it impossible to turn away from their need.

Join the National Marrow Registry. You might be the person to save Malachi’s life.

If you’re wondering whether you could handle being a donor, check out Canadian Brian Beattie’s personal experience in donating bone marrow.

POSTSCRIPT: More than 500 people signed up to be potential bone marrow donors at the OCS drive today. I understand that a successful drive gets 100 signups.  I am so proud of my community.