Tuesday Watercooler |
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| By: Kit OConnell Tuesday March 19, 2013 8:31 pm | |
In Over Easy this morning we heard about the Texas growing season. We just harvested a huge bowl full of lettuce and it was only about 1/4 of the lettuce in our garden. So much lettuce. Good thing we like salads. Other than that I don’t have much to say about this Tuesday. I’m exhausted from SXSW — still out of spoons.
Lettuce from Avocasa Gardens
Here is Kimbra singing “Cameo Lover” from her album Vows.
What’s on your mind? Come chat with us in the comments about anything.
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35 Comments
Since it’s all virtual… I brought the Hendrick’s Gin. Who’s having a round with me? ;)
Omg… I love Kimbra.
I am not very familiar so please feel free to suggest another tune you like.
It really is a lovely song
I know! A happy discovery tonight.
Oh Hendricks! Scottish herbal divine gin… and I love Martin Miller’s London Dry, too!
Sorry Kit, I can’t do the hard stuff anymore. I’m having a glass of Merlot, but thanks for the offer.
Since you asked, I’ve been nursing a pet peeve since about 2003 and would like to get it off my chest:
I’ve heard about a million people, many in the M$M, make out as how that for us to complain about this or that war will ruin the “morale” of “our troops.” (Our troops being at this point professional soldiers for whom such blather is blithering nonsense by definition, BTW.) But I must say that that song and dance has no merit in reference to any army.
I was in the US Army back when it was full of draftees. I served in a regular leg line unit, and in Special Forces. We were not nine year old Boy Scouts, we did not get depressed about dissenting opinions back home.
Our conversation was typically militarily sardonic. You were not gonna ruin our morale, even with accusations of “Baby Killer!” Much less complaints about the validity of the politics of this war. We knew we just had to hang in there and help each other.
I will have to try Martin Miller’s.
Tonight I cooked…
Cashew Sauce (trying to learn to make it like a local vegan restaurant, Counter Culture)
Roasted sweet potatoes & beets (till they got crispy)
also making bread :)
And here’s a link which made me happy today in case it wasn’t discussed on FDL yet today:
http://gawker.com/5991291/the-house-across-from-westboro-baptist-is-getting-a-rainbow-pride-paint-job-right-now
Hmm that’s pretty astute. Thank you for sharing your complaint. If you ever want to expand it into a diary I’d love to see that posted on MyFDL!
It makes sense to me that “the troops” (always referred to as if they were a single unit rather than individual minds) are probably well aware of the politics and relative merits of the war they are fighting, no matter what people are saying back home.
Thanks, Kit. I feel much better now.
“Expand it into a diary?” Surely you jest. I’m so out of my league here at FDL that an occasional snark is about my limit. But that was a nice gesture.
I don’t believe you. Also it wouldn’t take much — find a story with the MSM talking naively about the Troops reactions and contrast it with a paragraph or two about your own experiences.
Friend who is LPN on hospice unit at VA tells me VA is downsizing. When I asked how can that be given the incredible lifetime disabilities of today’s vets, she told me that vets are being offered $25,000 to sign away lifetime med benies. For those 20-somethings without jobs, it seems like a lifesaver & are signing on the dotted line.
Awful :(
Has anyone documented this anywhere yet?
Strictly hearsay.
Worth an investigation, I would say.
Do I trust my friend’s impression. Yes. But is not evidence.
Thank you for clarifying and passing along the tip.
The other reason I’m willing to take my friend’s word is that what she asserts falls into the pattern.
Hi, Kit! On my way to bed, but wanted to stop by and say “way to step up.” Hope Lisa’s okay.
Re: VA downsizing: likely true. They are affected by the sequester. Rachel Maddow just had a piece including a description of a program to coordinate electronic records between Defense and VA, so a vet’s records can be quickly and smoothly transferred from Defense to VA, for continuity and speed of care.
Sequester means: DoD is cancelling its side of that program. Not suspending for the duration, cancelling. Will it ever start up again? Who knows.
Nope. Sequester doesn’t mean anyone will be hurt. Well, not anyone who matters./s
(snark tag included, just to be sure that’s understood)
Oh another issue she raised with me,did I know anything about some fawncy program whose name I forget. Something to do with having teams to work together to smooth over bureaucratic roadblocks. Whatever the buzzword was, I hadn’t heard it. I asked why she wanted to know. Her A was: They’ve asked me to chair such a committee. I think they want to get rid of the supervisory nurses.
I told her I thought she was exactly right, that under no circumstances should she volunteer, for no pay raise, to do work that used to be done by professionals for higher pay. She agreed.
Terri Gross was interviewing someone on Fresh Air today who talked about the mess & shambles that the VA is. Rationed care! Troops coming back are lucky to get med attention needed sometimes after 2 year wait. Guy said Obama not doing much for Vets or troops still serving. On my phone so hard for me to link. Take a listen though & prepare to be pissed off yet again.
Sounded to me like military & VA are under orders from the PTB to give the Vets & Troops as little as possible. If they suicide, die, become homeless, go to jail: win. When was the last time you heard the jingoism “Support the Troops”? No one says it anymore. Because the PTB aren’t supporting them. Horrid. Typical. FUBAR.
My friend’s experiences predate the sequester.
Remember that sequester is a kabuki device staged to effect impoverishment plans of long ago.
I think your friend us right The VA is also overwhelmed & underfunded. No one can make money from it, so fuck it.
Nothing new here. Grunts have always been cannon fodder, both during & after. Least respected, most dupable peeps ever.
Post-WWII may be exception.
Rim shot.
The guy on Fresh Air talked about the lack of digitized med records & described the mess & chaos if piles & piles of med records. This pre-dates the sequester. Guy indicated that there were no plans to digitize records. Sounded to me that the PTB don’t want it to run well. Another excuse to privatize perhaps. Like the Post Office deliberately forcing it to be dysfunctional so that they can privatize & rip off taxes for personal gain. I hate these shitheads.
Yes. Still disgusting
I added a picture of the day’s lettuce harvest to the post.
And the rain is here…
Ever helpful, here’s the link. I heard part of that show, too.
Wow. Nice lettuce. Yum. Raining here too thankfully. Sorely needed. Dreamtime!
Thanks. Worth a listen but really aggravating. Sad.
Nice, Kit. “Avocasa Gardens.” A community garden, perhaps? Like the name…
Rain? Actual rain? With any luck, it’ll be here in a few hours, then. We sure need it.
gotta go to bed. Nice seeing y’all tonight.
Digitized med records is NOT soln. Every penny saved will find a penny to be gleefully wasted, prolly in corp computer corp pockets.
Besides, digitized med records fully available for USG to store & use against you when the time is ripe.
Avocasa is just what we (my housemate & I) call our house (we’re trying to grow some avocado trees and it’s also got a partly green exterior). But we have an ever-expanding garden out back and are participating in a community garden program which encourages us to grow and share food :)
It just started but the storm fronts look impressive. With the usual Austin weather patterns it’ll probably blow over quickly but we sure do need it.
Like the name avocasa even better. ; )
Thanks for hosting. G’nite.
Goodnight!
Digitized med records are not the total solution but would most likely make a diff in treatment & care. Albeit, we both agree that the PTB aren’t interested in providing adequate care to Vets or those still in the Military.
But if you listen to Mr. Glantz, he clearly states the huge problems eminating from lack of digitized med records. At this point the USG already has the “goods” on Vets & active Military and has loads of OTHER digitized records, I’m sure. So digitizing their med records ain’t gonna make that much diff in terms of “privacy” or whatever.