CREEPING ARTHRITIS (Poem)

Sometimes sitting in a padded
kitchen chair with arms,
I am symptom free,
No pain,
No discomfort.

I could sit there for ever, but
a chore needs doing.
So I get up knowing
That it won’t be the same
When I return.

There was a big spine operation
of the lumbar in 2004,
Shave the back of the spine
Remove disks,
Add titanium rods

It wasn’t a perfect recovery
after all the pain.
I lived for the time
For another Percocet
Giving some relief.

But I cheated the wheel chair
even could play tennis.
Went on tours of Italy, Greece and Turkey
The Canadian and American West.
The wheel chair just smiled.

In a few years, lumbar symptoms
returned and increased.
“What you need is a spine replacement,”
the neurosurgeon said. “But
“We don’t have them.”

Shots in the spine began to
relieve the pain
“Where is L2," the surgeon asked?
Feel something in your leg?”
“Burning sensation,” I replied.

“Good.  I guess I got it right.”
the surgeon said.
“Worst spine I have ever seen”
The surgical nurse said.
“Could get disability.”

Something called neurostimulation,
giving a buzz,
Might block the pain signals
From the lumbar
To the brain.

In 2011 pain in the right leg started,
gave up tennis.
Deterioration happened weekly.
“You need a hip replacement,”
The hip and knee specialist said.

Recovery is fast compared to
a knee replacement
But don’t kid yourself.
Progress is terribly slow
And takes lots of months.

Inpatient therapy, then
home therapy,
Then outpatient therapy,
But I cheated the wheelchair.
The wheelchair just smiles.

DOUBLE CROSS

Over the last couple of decades Democrats have adopted former Republican stands and have found them to subsequently be opposed by Republicans. A couple of examples are the Individual Mandate and the Line Item Veto.

Individual Mandate

Most recently it is the "individual mandate" in the Affordable Care Act of March 23, 2010 that Republicans first proposed and now oppose. "In fact, says Len Nichols of the New America Foundation, the individual mandate was originally a Republican idea. 'It was invented by Mark Pauly to give to George Bush Sr. back in the day, as a competition to the employer mandate focus of the Democrats at the time.' But Hatch's opposition is ironic, or some would say, politically motivated. The last time Congress debated a health overhaul, when Bill Clinton was president, Hatch and several other senators who now oppose the so-called individual mandate actually supported a bill that would have required it."*

.........................................................

"One reason the individual mandate appealed to conservatives is because it called for individual responsibility to address what economists call the "free-rider effect." That's the fact that if a person is in an accident or comes down with a dread disease, that person is going to get medical care, and someone is going to pay for it."*

..........................................................

"Nichols, of the New America Foundation, says he's depressed that so many issues that used to be part of the Republican health agenda are now being rejected by Republican leaders and most of the rank and file. "I think it's a sad testament to the state of relations among the parties that they've gotten to this point," he said."*

"The individual mandate was an outgrowth of a law signed by President Reagan: The 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. It requires nearly all hospitals to treat and stabilize anyone needing emergency care, regardless of ability to pay or legal U.S. residency. Critics call it an unfunded mandate. It was part of a budget law signed by President Ronald Reagan." ** "We called this (individual mandate) responsible national health insurance," says Pauly. 'There was a kind of an ethical and moral support for the notion that people shouldn't be allowed to free-ride on the charity of fellow citizens.'"*

Line Item Veto

Another item is the presidential Line Item Veto that was passed by congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on April 9, 1986. Republicans apparently thought they were sure to win the 1996 election and, with a line item veto, be able to eliminate Democratic provisions from bills. The bill was proposed by Senator Robert Dole and cosponsored by Senator John McCain and 29 others (***) including many Republicans such as Senator Mitch McConnell and candidate for Republican presidential for president Rick Santorum (candidacy now suspended). A year later the bill was challenged by a group of Senators including Democratic Senator Robert Byrd, but the case (Raines vs. Byrd) was dismissed. President Clinton (reelected after all) then used the line item veto on the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that the Line Item Veto was unconstitutional by a 6-3 vote on June 25, 1998.****

* http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123670612

** http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/01/obama-individual-mandate_n_1394705.html

*** http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d104:SN00004:@@@P

**** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_Item_Veto_Act_of_1996

CHIEF OF BEDROOM POLICE DROPS CANDIDACY

So, the chief of the bedroom police, Rick Santorum, has suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination for president. I make no bones about not liking him (See: http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2011/12/tthe-republican-primaries.html). I have to admit that he did a LOT better than I thought he would in winning 11 states. But, for one thing, he was propped up by millions of dollars of free advertising by the news media that was trying to make a fight out of the Republican primary. For another, it shows how scary the most active Republicans are. I can only hope there are a lot of "quiet" Republicans out there that value freedom in our personal relationships. But I must say that for the Protestant Bible Belt to embrace a Roman Catholic candidate for president is another big liberal advance (see one of my favorite posts "In The End Liberalism Wins": http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2009/12/in-end-liberalism-wins.html).

For even more on my views of Rick Santorum see: http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2012/02/where-are-women-against-contraceptives.html; http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2011/12/tthe-republican-primaries.html

Added April 14th, 2012: For an addition account of the Santorum candidacy by Charles Blow (NY Times, April 11, 2012) see: http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/what-rick-santorum-wrought/

NORTHERN VIRGINIA WISTERIA 2012 (Picture by Barbara Mapp)