Lazy, cloudy, and cooler Sunday. Do we have any intact infrastructure? Polio and more. Emergency room alternative. Zero option. Another form of medical industry fraud.

I thought it was warm yesterday--and it was.  The thermometer on the patio hit 50F and most of the area was in the high 40s.  Most of the snow--except in deeply shadowed areas--is gone.  We expect more for late in the week.  Today we probably won't see 40.

Welcome, Florence.  Glad you stopped by.  I agree on the shopping.  Never was a devotee of the true national "sport."  And I won't be participating in the "Cyber Monday" madness.

Another train derails!!  This time a commuter in New York.  The key word there is "another."  It makes me wonder what is going on with our infrastructure across the nation.  Update: latest news claims 4 dead and 48 injured.

I didn't know any polio survivors, much less one or more still in iron lungs, still survived.  I have been following what little is put out about the outbreak in Syria and the assaults against health workers trying to give vaccinations in Pakistan.  And the sporadic stories of measles and whooping caught outbreaks over here.  I have heard about a growing resistance to vaccinations in this country especially from parents afraid of autism and who believe the vaccinations are a factor causing the condition.  I strongly suspect that very success of the vaccination programs to prevent deaths and disabilities from diseases that used to scare people out of their skins is partly to blame.  How many of us have seen anyone with polio?  I remember a girl in my 8th grade class who had been paralyzed by it and who had to have leg and torso braces to sit in her wheelchair.  We have little direct experience with polio, measles, mumps, diphtheria, or whooping cough now-a-days. So a suspected link with a condition whose cause(s) are as yet unknown looms larger in our nightmares.

Now this is an interesting program.  Perhaps it should be expanded.

I sincerely hope that the U.S. exercises this "zero option" in Afghanistan.  The whole "War on Terror" has been badly conceived and badly executed.  We have gained no safety, no stability, and no allies in the mess while spending more money than I can get my mind around.  We are in a deep hole and should stop digging.

This article confirms by conviction that the medical industry thrives by fraud.  Patients should ask what their status is and demand that they be officially admitted not "observed."  They used to call this kind of crap a "wallet-ectomy."

And then we have the cases of "misbehavior" from once reputable companies.

Mom's comment when I read this item to her:  "Ha! Ha! Bullshit!"

This article I can readily believe despite my normally skeptical nature when statistics are cited.  We have discussed whether to maintain our cable TV service with increasing frequency over the last several years.  Lately we have found fewer reasons to continue.  It is only a matter of time and we won't find enough reason to spend that money that way.  And we are far older the age group mentioned.