The news is mostly good. The shirker and elevation paid off, and George went on, without difficulty, both yesterday and today. Despite horrid weather, the trip to TriMet was uneventful. The lady explained why they have to measure chairs. Sometimes they send lift-equipped Taxis, if that’s more convenient for them, nut different taxis have different capacity ramps. Measuring lets them know which vehicles they can send. In my case, they can send any. My home health care begins today with a visit from my PT. She will probably arrive. before I finish this article. What I want most is my bath aide. I’m, getting a bit ripe. The news news is that the evil Patty Monster mashed my kitty butt!
Later: PT and OT have come and gone, and the RN will be here in less than two hours.
Fantasy Football Report:
Congrats to the winners. The bottom four seeds all won, except for me, of course.
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: State of Kansas mental health facilities and have seen a rough year under Governor Sam Brownback. Continued budget cuts and problems with overcrowding left facilities like Osawatomie overwhelmed, forcing many employees to work repeated double and triple shifts in order to keep the facility within operating requirements.
http://www.khi.org/news/2014/aug/18/kansas-mental-health-system-under-increasing-stres/
With the patient count so high, many of the hospital’s direct-care staff were pressed into working one, two and sometimes three overtime shifts a week.
“The place is over census and understaffed,” said Rebecca Proctor, executive director at the Kansas Organization of State Employees, a labor union that represents many state hospital front-line workers. “Conditions there are really, really bad.”
Angela de Rocha, a spokesperson for Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, confirmed that the Osawatomie hospital’s patient count on July 15 was “an overall high for the past 10 years.”
On Friday, the The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services informed the state of Kansas it will cease sending federal funds to the facility. Citing failure to meet compliance standards funding for new patients will end today, December 21, at the end of business day.
This is especially heinous, considering that Kansas has so many Republicans that the need for mental health services is as extreme as Brownback's pseudo-Christian response to that need.
From YouTube: Your Holiday Guide to Dealing with Uncle Bob
As always, the Reich on the left is right. You might consider spiking Uncle Bob's apple pie with ex-lax, considering what he's full of.
From The New Yorker: The Democratic National Committee made a big mistake staging the third Presidential-primary debate, which was held at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on a Saturday night, when millions of potential viewers wouldn’t be watching. The debate was lively, informative, and civil. Apart from a brief diversion into whether former President Bill Clinton, should he become the first First Gentleman of the United States, would be entrusted with selecting flowers and menus for official occasions—his wife said that he wouldn’t—it was also substantive. And excluding, for a moment, Martin O’Malley, it reaffirmed the choice facing Democratic voters: experience, moderate reformism, and vigorous engagement abroad (Hillary Clinton) versus passion, an assault on privilege, and an abiding skepticism about overseas military engagements (Bernie Sanders)… [emphasis added]
The New Yorker documented the key difference well. As much as I prefer the latter, I expect to have to settle for the former. I'm sure Slick Willie Clinton will have no trouble selecting flowers: consider Flower Tucci.
Cartoon:
24 Responses to “Open Thread–12/22/2015”
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Glad the chair choice and measurement results will help avoid future problems with tranport. Glad the planned services at home are progressing towards meeting your needs.
Kudos to the winners!
States do have to meet the minimal federal standards for care to be entitled to federal funds–too many states are neglecting public health and safety by pretending otherwise.
Reich is indeed worth a watch.
This debate's schedule during holiday school break plus Sat. before Christmas was criticized from the day it was announced. Some say DWS thinks the less candidate exposure there is the better it will be for Clinton in the primary…however that also leaves the GOP to dictate the conversation and issues in the media. Not good.
Wish the leaders of the NRA would learn to see the blood on their hands and take a chapter from Shakespeare calling for "Out dam…d spot."
I agree about the poor scheduling of the debate.
Glad to hear the shrinker & elevation helped! AND all taxis are available for your use chair-wise.
Sorry, but even w/ my "TomCat Decoder Ring" set to "Expert Level" I didn't get a clear deciphering of …
"The news news is that the evil Patty Monster masked my kitty butt!"
Must have something to do w/ the Football League.
You're correct . . . it's Fantasy Football! Your word "masked" should actually be "mashed". TC was playing Patty's Monster Mshers, one of the commentators, and she kicked his kitty butt clear into next week!
Would I have snuck back in to correct my typo? I'll never tell!!
So glad you are getting home health care. And, living in Oregon and not Kansas, can expect to keep getting it.
Kansas – If the Federal Government sets requirements fort he state to fund to a certain level before federal assistnce can kick in, then the Feds have to comply with their own rules. I am very sorry for the people of Kansas, not just those who are mentally ill (arguably there are some, as Brownback may have won but it wasn't unanimous), but I don't see that the Feds have any choice.
YouTube – starring Robert Reich and Robert Reich. He is so good at playing Uncle Bob, he is probably taking out all his frustrations with Republicans by acting the curmidgeon.
New Yorker – That certainly wasn't the only mistake the DNC made. Actually, I doubt it was a mistake, I think it was purposeful strategy to support Hillary. I am beginning to believe that Bernie has a better chance of beating any Republican nominee than Hillary does, and that it would be a mistake to nominate her over Bernie. It's been said that, given a choice between a real Republican and a Republican lite, voters will go for the real Republican every time.
With regard to flowers, just as long as he stays away from Turd Blossom, Bill should be OK.
Cartoon – And so say all of us.
I would like to share one issue that I take personally. You can certainly research further, but the relevant facts are here:
Call Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey's office at 720-913-9000
or email at info@denverda.org and tell them to drop the case against Clarence Moses El.
He is an innocent man who was convicted and imprisoned for 28 years because of the victim's dream. He had the DNA evidence that would have exonerated him destroyed four weeks after his attorneys won a court order to have it tested.
The investigating officer gave a sworn statement as to his doubts that Clarence was responsible and there has been a confession from L.C. Jackson, who was initially named by the victim. The confession was heard in court this fall at a hearing for this new piece of evidence and this is one of the reasons the conviction was overturned by the judge. Yet, still, DA Mitch Morrissey refuses to drop the case.
OMG! Clarence was released today! But they are still trying to decide whether to re-try him – so it can't hurt to call or email anyway and say "Don't waste the money on a new trial, let him be."
http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2015/12/22/colorado-conviction-overturned/77740224/
GReat news.
Hurrah!!
PS – Truth be told, I would LOVE to have the lovey-dovey cat like the one in your “My Universe”
The shelter cat I have now is 99.9% pure feral. But I love him just the same – growls, hisses, scratches, cat-bite cellulitis and all.
(NOTE: He has gotten much mellower since his life-threatening illness – but certainly not lovey-dovey. Like kids and life, you take what’s dealt to you, and do the best you can.)
I think you meant this to be on the other OT. . . . the one in the other universe.
Oops! You're right. Oh, well.
Nameless, you get points for adopting a shelter cat. Good for you!
Aren't you lucky that your cat isn't lovey-dovey, and your family isn't feral?
Daily Kos: Brownback's policies flow from those of Gov. Reagan, who destroyed what was once a model mental health system. I am glad to hear of the Medicare and Medicaid decision, if it forces the idiot governor to stop even some of his misguded crusade against the 99%. A society is judged by how it cares for its most vulnerable people, and the RED STATE CONCEPT fails in utter misery!
New Yorker: Slick Willie will be in heaven!
Great cartoon!
Glad that George is happier, now. Hey, no turbo boosters on the chair!
Good point about St. Ronnie Ray Gun.
Glad to know that George is fitting again. Hope you got your bath.
Daily Kos: The State of Kentucky will soon be in the same shape as Kansas. Our new gov, Matt Bevins issued five executive orders today, overturning orders made by the previous gov, Steve Beshear, DEM. None of these helped the ordinary Kentuckian, but now Kim Davis won't have her name on marriage licenses. He also froze all state hiring, which means the mine inspectors will still be struggling to do their jobs to oversee the safety of the miners.
Youtube: We will be having our own version of "Uncle Bob" here for Christmas eve dinner. We solve the problem by talking sports or ancestry, otherwise, he is mad at most of us. I am proud to say that most of my families are BLUE!
The New Yorker: I missed the debate. I prefer Bernie, too, but looks like we will probably have Hillary and I will vote for her if she gets the nomination.
Cartoon: The NRA has way too much blood on its hands.
Let Uncle Bob have it!!
You seem to be all settled for Christmas, TomCat, including a bath, I hope.
I'm Back o' Burke again as far as the internet connection is considered, so I won't be able to view the videos or comment much, but I'll try and follow as much as I can, starting tomorrow.
I just looked at the timestamp and it is almost as if we live on two different planets: at the time of posting it was December 23 (a day later) and 4:14 pm in Queensland, Oz.
You Ozlings need to learn to tell time.
Thanks all! Hugs!
I always miss the time when you are commenting on stuff, TC. My phone won't let me get the FLASH update, so I can't open the cards you send. So if you are sending comments in the cards, I can't get them. The only thing I can see is what card you sent. And I still haven't figured out why I'm still in the playoffs. I lost my last game and I should be out, I think. Anyway, I got crushed also, so don't feel alone!
Had the swelling gone down in your stump? Last I read, it was so swollen, it was hurting really bad.
Hope you have a good Christmas with ALL the trimmings! We have just stayed home and watched TV. It was just too much for us. Our doctor heard about the "New guidlines" and cut our meds in half, so our Christmas truly sucked. I hope yours is much better.
Take good care of yourself, TC! Hope New Years is a LOT different than the last part of this year!!
Peace, Love, and Hugs! Me