Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Hip Replacement Update
Monday, June 27, 2022
Second Class Citizen, Reporting
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) reversed Roe v. Wade. They did not have to overturn this nearly 50-year-old ruling, which became the "law" of the land in 1973. It allowed women to have the final say over their uteruses and made abortion legal.
SCOTUS was ruling on Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization in Mississippi. The case involved restrictions on abortion access. The ruling on the actual case before them was 6-3.
But SCOTUS did not stop there, and with a conservative majority on the court, they went ahead and ruled 5-4 to overturn Roe v. Wade. The four justices who voted to uphold Roe were Roberts, Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayer. The former guy's three stooges - Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Gorsuch - were joined by Thomas and Alito.
The ruling does not make abortion illegal; it removed federal guidelines and laws concerning abortions and returned the issue to the states.
This means that a woman in Kansas could have more rights than a woman in Texas. Or not. It also means the laws could change as the winds blow, as conservatives take state legislatures, or liberals take state legislatures. Women will be twisting like windchimes in a thunderstorm trying to keep up with new laws as governing bodies change.
The end of Roe v. Wade means that women no longer have bodily autonomy over their own selves and cannot make decisions that impact their life forever.
Yes, I am pro-choice, because I don't believe a parasitic clump of cells should destroy a woman's life. I would never have had an abortion myself, but that doesn't mean I have the right to impose my will upon others.
No one has the right to impose their will upon someone else, whether that's a forced pregnancy or taking a living soul with a gun.
SCOTUS changed 50 years of settled law with no regard for lives that are already here. At the same time SCOTUS made this ruling, they enhanced gun ownership by knocking down a century-old New York City law that restricted conceal carry permits to people with need, so that not any ol' joe could waltz around with a .243 shoved up his or her ass. Talk about hypocrisy.
The federal legislative body has had 50 years to make Roe v. Wade into federal law. They've had a couple of years to make the Equal Rights Amendment a part of the U.S. Constitution, because enough states have passed it now - except there was a timetable that was missed.
I blame every single member of the federal and state legislatures since 1973 for not moving forward to place the important things, like oh, I don't know, women are human beings and have the same bodily autonomy as men, into law.
Additionally, we don't have the infrastructure in place to deal with (a) the effects of botched abortions (did you know that prior to 1973 hospitals in large cities had entire floors dedicated to sepsis abortion patients. They sure did. Guess we'll be seeing those back again.) and (b) no laws to assist women who are now forced to carry and raise a child they didn't want.
Unwanted children grow up being hated by their parents, even if the parents don't expressly come out and say that. It's not a good feeling. And everything becomes the kid's fault. It's the kid's fault if the parents marry. The kid's fault if they fight. The kid's to blame for every fucking thing that comes down the pike, until it's beaten into the child's head that he or she (especially if the kid is a she) is a worthless nothing who should never have been born.
So, what do these lovely young babies that the nation is now forcing to be born have to look forward to?
We don't have enough mental health care to care for the people who are here now, much less the ones that we are going to force to be born.
The government - the Republicans - did all of this without any concern for the realities of life. They did not pass sweeping legislation to ensure that all children have access to healthcare, affordable house, or emotional and/or mental health support.
They have been fighting for this for 40 years without putting anything in place to ensure comprehensive schooling for all children, regardless of need (special needs in particular) and instead are working to kill off the public school system so that education in this country becomes a farce.
There is no legislation to ensure that these children aren't murdered on a whim by some idiot with a gun. Is that bloody, gory, heartless death more acceptable than an abortion of a bunch of cells?
No legislation is in place to support single parents, grandparents raising their grandchildren, or forcing the male - the other half of the pregnancy equation - to live up to any part of the deed. Doesn't the sperm donor bear some responsibility here?
We have no legislation to support women who must now face prediabetes, eclampsia, or other life-threatening illnesses that a pregnancy can create. We have nothing in place for women who have ectopic pregnancies, and apparently a miscarriage could now, in some states, result in a jail sentence and/or a felony conviction.
There is no legislation to support these women who must now give birth against their will. What if they were molested or raped? What if the pregnancy endangers the woman's life? What if a woman just isn't ready to have a child? But we're going to make them have these children with no support systems in place, nothing to help them raise these babies, nothing to ensure the women and the children will be ok.
States won't step up - they haven't stepped up, ever, so why would they start now? This is no longer a federal issue, so why would the federal government step up?
SCOTUS just destroyed this country, because, as 88-year-old Gloria Steinman said in an Associated Press article, “Obviously, without the right of women and men to make decisions about our own bodies, there is no democracy.”
Sunday, June 26, 2022
Sunday Stealing
2. If you could spend one night alone with anyone in the world who is currently alive, whom would you select?
3. If you could spend one night alone with anyone in history, whom would you choose?
4. If you could physically transport yourself to any place in the world at this moment, where would you go?
5. If you could have lived through any war in history (without actually fighting in it), which would it be?
7. If you had to eliminate any single type of animal forever, which would you choose?
8. If you could have an elegant dinner alone with anyone presently alive, whether you know them or not, who would you want it to be?
9. If you could alter one physical characteristic of your mate, what would it be?
10. If you could change one thing about your childhood, what would it be?
11. If you could have any room in the world become your bedroom, which room would you choose?
12. If you could alter one thing about your physical appearance, what would it be?
13. If you could have stopped aging at any point in your life up to the present, how old would you wish to remain?
14. If you could suddenly possess an extraordinary talent in one of the arts, what would you like it to be?
15. If you could have permanent possession of any single object in the world, what would you want it to be?
I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.
Saturday, June 25, 2022
Saturday 9: Better Now
Friday, June 24, 2022
The Husband's Hip Replacement
Thursday, June 23, 2022
Thursday Thirteen
If I'd wanted to be a nurse, I'd have become a nurse. But being married means sometimes one has to be a caregiver, whether it's weathering the flu or something more serious, like a surgery.
Here are some tips I came up with in regard to being a good caregiver. What would you add?
1. Be as physically strong as possible. If you're not healthy yourself, then you will have to find a way to overcome your own personal obstacles.
2. Have a support team. If you're not strong enough to, say, lift your spouse or whatever is needed, then it's time to bring in a trusted someone to help. That may be a family member or a friend or even paid personnel, but it should be someone who will deliver if needed. And it never hurts to have a backup.
3. Set goals. These may be daily goals (if you do your exercises, you can have ice cream!) or weekly, or even hourly goals (take a nap for an hour and you can have ice cream!).
4. Keep up with medications. This may require a chart or an app, especially if the patient is taking medicines at odd times or you have an off-schedule situation. Pill boxes are helpful.
5. Accept help. We're taught in the United States not to accept help, to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, so to speak, and make it on your own. That's poppycock. If someone wants to bring over a meal, let them! If someone else can sit with the patient so you can go to the store, let them!
6. Take time out for yourself. Even taking breaks while the patient is sleeping can be helpful. Remembering to take care of you is important because if you collapse, you can't help the patient.
7. Practice staying in the moment. Worrying about the doctor's appointment next week doesn't do anyone any good. Just get through the day, a step at a time.
8. Try to keep things normal. If you and the patient normally woke up at 6 a.m. every morning, continue to do that. If you always ate eggs and bacon on Saturdays, do that too, if it's allowed in a diet change.
9. Dress. Both the patient and caregiver need to bathe and dress as they normally would when possible. Laying around in pajamas may be okay for a day or two, but it creates the appearance of abnormality and illness. Go for a healthy look and put on those jeans!
10. Exercise. The patient may have therapy exercises to do, but the caregiver also needs to exercise regularly and not give up any therapy exercises or other healthcare needs in favor of the patient.
11. Eat well. This is not the time for over indulgences or to change eating habits (like starting a diet). Having a patient in the house is a strain for everyone, so don't add to it by suddenly deciding you're going to lose 10 pounds, even if you need to lose weight.
12. Do the best you can. Sometimes this won't be enough, and sometimes the best you can do one day is not equal the your best the day before. "Best" is a subjective word, and while your performance may not meet someone else's standards, so long as the patient is not unhappy, you've been successful even if you don't think you've met "standards."
13. Give yourself (and maybe your patient) a pep talk. There's nothing like an "atta girl" to lift the spirits.
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Monday, June 20, 2022
Doomed to Destruction
The photos below are of the current Botetourt County Courthouse. This structure was rebuilt in 1975 after a fire in 1970 gutted the building. The destroyed structure had been constructed in 1848, allegedly from plans provided by Thomas Jefferson.
The current courthouse is scheduled to be demolished next year. The structure has mold and due to poor upkeep by the county, it is literally falling down around the employees inside. It is also not secure given today's political climate, and it not accessible to the disabled.
So this building will in a few years be replaced by another with a similar exterior but a much larger footprint.
Sunday, June 19, 2022
Sunday Stealing
I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.
Saturday, June 18, 2022
Saturday 9: Yesterday
Thursday, June 16, 2022
Thursday Thirteen #760
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Damn Dryer
In April, we bought a new dryer because the one we bought in 2019 was constantly needing a new timer.
The thing isn't even two months old, and the handle fell off.
A $1,300 piece of crap.
Monday, June 13, 2022
The James Breckinridge Law Office
This building is one of the oldest in Botetourt County's seat of Fincastle. The James Breckinridge Law Office dates back to about 1775-1780. The town was founded in 1772 and is celebrating one of those big anniversaries this year.
James Breckinridge (1763-1833) served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1809 to 1817 (back before that became a lifetime job). Prior to that he served as a state delegate.
He also served on the Board of Visitors for the University of Virginia.
I always knew this structure as a museum, but it is now slated to be torn down and then rebuilt just about 1000 feet away. The structure is making way for a new county courthouse.
Pictures before demolition are always good things. Reconstruction doesn't always happen.
Sunday, June 12, 2022
Sunday Stealing
There are no right or wrong answers. Don't limit yourself to one-word responses; just say everything that pops into your head.
I say . . . and you think . . . ?
Hurry! :: Speed
Dumb :: as a hammer
Fudge :: chocolate
Sturdy :: board
Printing :: press
Itch :: scratch
Creaks :: groans
Paste :: glue
Waste of time :: probably memes and/or video games
Let down :: your hair
Cancellation :: disappointment
Suspect :: villain
Fireplace :: poker
Spring :: flowers
Commute :: long drive
Places :: to go
Fraud :: the former guy
Adoption :: option
Election :: turn out
Moving day :: lots of work
I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.