Yesterday, I heard from James on how he is doing after his amputation. He is working aain, and is taking his beloved dog, Cinnamon, for walkies every day. Last Monday, while the weather was pretty good, they took a walk of four and a half miles. Wow. I have long believed that how well one recovers after surgery, any surgery, is pretty much determined by the amount of work one puts in on recovering (bearing in mind, of course, that varous factors may affect one’s ability to do so.) James has worked hard both in prescribed and self-motivated physical therapy and I would say it shows.
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Short Takes –
HuffPo – She Was The Most Powerful Woman In Ohio. But There Was One Big Problem She Couldn’t Fix.
Quote – Out of office, [Maureen] O’Connor hasn’t lost sight of the fight for fair districts. She says she’ll work to build support for a constitutional amendment in the state to create an independent redistricting process and “get the politicians, the elected officials, off the redistricting commission.” But for now, the product of the GOP-drawn maps is clear: It’s a stacked deck.
Click through for details. Unless we want to continue to live under permanent minority rule (and such a deluded minority at that), we need a new voting rights act. Among other things, in needs to require an independent commission to draw new district maps for every state (not necessarily the same commission, just that every state must have one.) Every state. The last I looked, Ohio was not in Alabama.
Wonkette – Could Anything Have Prevented Diabetic Child From Dying In Arizona Foster System? Guess We’ll Never Know!
Quote – Type 1 diabetics are insulin-dependent and require regular blood glucose monitoring. If they are deprived of insulin, they will go into ketoacidosis, which if untreated will result in brain swelling (cerebral edema) causing a coma and eventually brain death. It just wouldn’t happen if the kid had been getting his insulin. Does that really count as a natural death? Richard Blodgett says he believes the Arizona Department of Child Safety failed to take care of his son, which they obviously did. He would very much like to know if his insulin pump was removed, if his blood glucose was monitored, if his regular doctor was consulted. So far, the Department of Child Services has not given him any answers.
Click through for story. This is worse than a tragedy (in a tragedy, the hero brings his fate upon himself through a tragic flaw. Type 1 diabetes does not constituta a tragic flaw.) I would call it a travesty (in the metaphorical sense of destruction through absurdity, not in the original sense of cross-dressing.) I wonder whether there will ever be any accountability here. The author thinks not, and I fear she is right.
Food For Thought
