Arkansas Blog

Well, since you bring up the subject of football, I observed that Arkansas State almost upset Iowa today, ranked No. 13 in the land. Maybe the house-proud grads of the University of Arkansas -- nationally known as "the Harvard of Washington County," where many of the students finally learn to speak fluent prose -- are right, that the perennially pathetic Hogs should not play A-State. Certainly not this year. (I'm not a grad of either school, by the way.)

The Big Dam Bridge is losing its #1 title. The worlds largest pedestrian bridge is opening in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. today. Named 'Walkway Over the Hudson'...yawn. We still have the best-ever, #1 name for a bridge.

http://current.newsweek.com/budgettravel/2009/10/this_weekend_stroll_the_worlds.html

I am going back and forth, all while working just a little bit more to stave off one of the wolves at my door, at least,between Oklahoma/miami and Jerrys Palace. right now I am with oklahoma, since the majority of what I just saw at the Palace involved watching Jerry and Frank eating what appeared to be ribs or chicken wings - something that takes 2 hands to eat -- in the heavenly skybox. Frank looks good. Yes, that thing is very big. And expensive. I wonder what a Coke costs there? Apparently even parking at the stadium is very expensive.

Did anyone watch the last quarter of LSU/Georgia? Georgia scores a TD to take the lead with very little time left (hey, i was working and I am NOT perched vicariously upon a barstool anyway) and gets a penalty for celebrating because the player who scored the TD ran to his own teammates for a big hugfest. Kind of a controversial call. He didnt throw his helmet or make any gestures to the crowd or do a little dance or anything rude. I dont like that. When you get into the end zone, you're supposed to act like you've been there before.

Then, after the score being 7-6 for 3 quarters, immediately after Georgia's TD & penalty, LSU scores a TD and THEY get a penalty for celebrating because the guy who scored the TD put the ball down on the ground and held up 2 fingers to the crowd, as if he were saying "be good" or "be quiet" or something. as the announcers opined, it was only fair to call the penalty on LSU, except they shouldn't have called it on Georgia, and then they shouldnt have called it on LSU either. I think there's a reason I am not a sportswriter.

anyway, it was a heartbreaker for Georgia and a dramatic comeback for LSU. the game was in Athens, but I spect parties will be going on in Loozianer for quite a while tonight. Bet the food is good.

ok, now for those of you who give a rats azz, oklahoma just scored after an interception and its 7-0 and arkansas has taken the lead 14-10. Or 14-7. I cant see those miniscule numbers and we have a big tv. if i were a football coach, i would immediately prohibit dreadlocks that extend several inches below the player's helmet, some even requiring a ponytail holder. That just annoys me to no end.

Now oklahoma has just made another interception, and the Wonder Dog has gone out to see if Jerry has FedExed us a care package of hot wings or ribs or whatever to eat while we work and watch tv. I love college football season; i dont mind a bit to sit here most of the day. we get out and walk quite a bit. But there is entertainment, instead of CSI: Cleveland, followed by CSI: New Hampshire. And soon we will have baseball playoffs.

now I have to go back to work and Im sure everyone will miss my on-the-spot reporting.

Jazzy, girl, are you around tonight? I havent been around much but I haven't seen you in a long spell. hope everything is ok.

Stopped at the Arka Valley Liquor Store in Blackwell on my way to the Big Piney Creek (north of Russelville and west of Hwy. 7) to help in the Arkansas Canoe's Club Piney Creek Chapter roadside trash pickup today.

They had a sign that promoted TexasSux beer. Really think it should be HogSux beer based on the last few years and what I've read about based on the last two games.

Tina I'm here with game on. Pigs seem much better tonight and yes, I watched the LSU
GA. game, what an exciting 4th qtr.....French Qtr will be rocking n' rolling tonight.
Been sick to death, not on the blog or anything else except crying in my misery, thank god
Frenchie feels better to care for me, thats what love is, caring for each other.
Finally have some relief today...........thanks for asking.

tina, I'm like the little boy who dropped his chewing gum in the chicken house..

you mentioned Okla and Ark...I'm watching Okla play Miami and I thought Hogs was playing
A&M in Dallas which isn't on up heah.

.

Tina,

I thought it was an excellent recap...you may have missed your true calling.

OK, Tina, I need help with your football karma. Rub the Wonder Dog's ears and cheer real hard on two games: We need Miami to stay within 7 points of Oklahoma and the Auburn-Tennessee game to have at least 52 points scored (combined). We're not looking good on either at this point.

If we can win both, I'll buy you a double-martini (Stoli) at the next A-T function.

try ESPN2 elwood.

Jazzy--Sorry you've been under the weather. Here's a little music to cheer you up...

Thanks kizzy. I canceled that level of Cox cable. Pissed me off one too many times plus it makes me feel so good to NOT be paying for FOX News. I can watch games live streaming if it's a hot one. So far all are cool for me.

WAR EAGLE & WOO PIG SOOIE!!!!

(I lost money tonight, but what the hell...I lose money every week, it's a pattern).

This post is for Zelda:

This is the first time I have logged onto the AT Blog since mid-day Friday. I have just seen your accusation that I have never backed up my allegation concerning ventilators in the UK health system. Actually, I did so some time ago. Apparently, you didn't see it, so I will post it again. On 9/23, elwood and I had the following exchange:

"Hey Pines, what's this about 'proved' ???

We're sitting out here in HogLand awaiting your PROOF that the elderly in England are jerked off of ventilators....you know the allegation you made a week or so ago.

There will be ONE in Arkansas, on Medicare, "jerked off" a ventilator. That will be me. I've specified that I don't wish to spend my remaining days living on a machine.
.

Posted by: eLwood | September 22, 2009 09:34 PM

Gee, Elwood, I found any number of sources showing the results of the FL election and the various recounts and recount methods. Apparently you're not as good with Google as you think you are.

As for your ventilator question--I never said anyone in the UK was "jerked off" a ventilator--like DBI, I guess your mind is in your pants. I said their use is rationed, and that they are not available for older patients. My "proof" is the personal experience of one of my best friends, who was treated for a life-threatening illness at Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon and discovered this by personal experience. And I did not speak of this a "week or so ago"--it was a number of weeks ago. Apparently your estimation in matters of time is no better than in other areas. Thankfully, the contents of this blog are archived.

Posted by: FromThePines | September 23, 2009 07:03 AM "

"I wonder what a Coke costs there?" posted y tina

tina, as billionaire J. Paul Getty once responded to a question: "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."

Of course, Getty was responding to the following question (similar to what things cost in Jer Jones new grotesquerie): "How much did that yacht cost?"

Tina - to answer your question about parking this weekend at the game. I think my boss mentioned that his parking pass cost $75.00. And by looking at the parking lot map, that caould have been at Six Flags!

>>I said their use is rationed, and that they are not available for older patients. <<
Pines

Do you mean the use of ventilators in England is rationed like they are here under our
Pay or Die system? If you can pay for a ventilator you get one, if not you die sooner or never fully
recover.

Or do you mean that in England elderly dying people are not given ventilators
to extend their lives another 2-3 months like they do here IF there is a payer.

Btw I have a very dear friend, Pia, who is 69 and lives about 40 miles south of London. Late last year she had a bad case of pneumonia and had to be put on a ventilator so her lungs would recover.

Pia has lived in the USA, Mexico, France and Africa but she prefers her native country and its medical delivery system. And if you know many Brits they will complain about anything, in a courteous way of course, and most come from an entirely different perspective.

.

"The public is invited to attend a screening of Money-Driven Medicine at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 8, 2009, in the Student Center, Room 108, at NorthWest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville (I540, Exit 85). Admission is free.

Health professionals telling why they believe there must be a public option and nationalized health care.

Recent debates over healthcare reform have revealed that the United States - the only industrialized nation that treats medicine as a largely unregulated, for-profit business - spends twice as much per person on healthcare as the average developed nation, and yet our outcomes are very often worse.
The 80-minute film offers a behind-the-scenes look at our 2.6 trillion dollar a year healthcare system, analyzes why it isn't working, and offers suggestions for how to improve it."

Oh, I meant to add this link to the above.

clickit

Why thank you for answering, pines; and sorry I missed your reply to elwood. I try to keep up, especially when I've asked someone a specific question. But every now/then I seem to miss quite a few things...repetition can be a good thing. I know that blogs, in general, are free zones where folks can do pretty much whatever they want regarding answering/not answering...explaining in general. But my personal views regarding how I relate to other humans have always served me well and made sleeping easy; they rule where I go. I will always answer if I've engaged someone, especially if, like pines, I've questioned their assertions and/or asked them to back up their words. I won't, however, waste 'much' time with folks, like hillbilly/strangelove/etc, who aren't interested in any real exchange, who aren't answering ANYTHING, who play word games to obfuscate an issue rather than have a real discussion about the specifics.

Your original assertion was that England's universal health-care system purposely cut short the lives of the by not allowing the use of ventilators. You asserted that 'in England you won't see the elderly on ventilators' (my paraphrasing). And you were arguing this point as an argument AGAINST some form of universal health-care for our country...as proof that England's medical system had some form of a 'death panel'...as proof that England's universal health-care did not work as well as some say and that their was a specific 'moral' cost to pay. So...your answer is not an answer. One person's experience does not an argument make...unless, of course, you're merely asserting that you know of one person who knows of some folks whose lives were cut short because England's system rations care by denying its elderly the use of ventilators.

Further...even if it was true (and as elwood said), rationing and choosing one person's needs over another's ROUTINELY happens within our current 'give all the money/power to the insurance masters' health-care system. And usually those with the most money/insurance get the bulk of the resources allocated to their health needs. Million-dollar organ transplants for some, yet many, many people can't get basic treatment for things like diabetes, high blood pressure, gynecological care, rotting teeth, and on and on. Clearly we need to provide the 'basics' for everyone...and then prioritize according to NUMEROUS other medical/ethical factors.

To Pines & Zelda:

While researching for England/health care/ventilators (and finding little to support the contention that ventilators are being systematically withheld from patients), something more ominous came up: a swine flu pandemic and a shortage of ventilators. Click on name for discussion on topic. It's moral dilemma time!!

Speaking of rationed care, the US is actually more rationed than universal health care systems from other countries. Goto:

http://www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2009/06/rationing_healt.html

Sister, the Sooners are "my" team and, in fact, I plan to marry Bob Stoops quite soon. He is unaware of this, so keep it under your hat. And YES they got beat by the Miami Frazzleheads! all that hair, I wish I were a coach so I could make them cut it off. Hope you did as well on your other game.

eLwood, what the devil does that mean?? youre like the little boy who dropped his gum in the chickenhouse? I dropped that tier of Cox too, but I just now got it back this week. I lasted 2 weeks without it; I need to remember to cancel it AFTER college football, not before. I also missed the Little League World Series. There isnt much I like to watch while I am working. Last night the Wonder Dog, Bride of Wonder Dog and I went to bed early to read.

jazzy, I do believe that is the definition of love. I wish I had someone to take care of me, and i dont mean pay my bills and buy me things -- i mean rub my head when i have a migraine and love the Wonder Dog too. You and Frenchie have been truly blessed. Hope you feel better today.

Sigh. I missed Pines' response too, Zelda. I was about to jump all over his assertions -- again. Then it occurred to me I'd already done that to no avail. His "proof" -- that single patient he knows, the one who apparently got well without the aid of a ventilator -- tells him all he will ever need to know.
I'm with you, eLwood. I've seen a patient on a ventilator for a couple of days. It was terrifying, but worth it because he had a excellent chance of survival with that short stint on the machine -- and did survive to regain much of his health.
But for two or three months waiting for death? Don't even think about doing that to me.
Think I'll just go play in the wind and rain. Much more fun than fighting the same old battle with Pines.

I forgot to thank Goof for letting me know that it costs $75 to park at Jerrys Palace. Hell, the only people who can afford to the games now are Jerry and his pals and the players.

I saw someone on the tv yesterday wearing a shirt (not homemade) that said Cal (I think, yall know how I am) Sucks. The "Sucks" was written under the school name in kind of a swoopy manner.

when i went to the sugar bowl in 2006, we saw homemade Tshirts everywhere that said F*** USC (only they didnt use the asterisks) - in our nice hotel, on the street, all over! it had come down to LSU vs. USC as to who'd get the bowl bid and apparently these LSU fans held strong feelings about it.

Same here about the gum in the chicken house, Tina. Hadn't heard that one. Given the size and color of chicken poop, maybe it means shit outta luck? What say, eLwood?

eLwood, what the devil does that mean?? youre like the little boy who dropped his gum in the chickenhouse?<<

Think about it a little bit. What does a kid do when he drops his gum..

I recall hearing that the boy who dropped his gum in the chicken yard found it on his third try....

eLwood, please take pity on a friend who has no brain today. I still can't figure it out. a kid who drops his gum picks it up and blows the biggest pieces of filth off of it and then sticks it back in his mouth. Or he happens to know that one of those chickens has a pack of watermelon-flavored super bubble whatever, so he steps in the gum with one foot, steps in chicken poop with the other, and then procures another piece of gum??

im sorry, im just dense. also i still have the mini-flu or whatever you call it when you get a mild case of the flu from your flu shot. We went on a pretty nice walk in just mild drizzle, wherein the Bride of Wonder Dog wore her raincoat but he wasn't having any part of that. I just wore a sweatshirt too. And some pants, dont worry. just no rain gear, but then i came home and hopped in the shower, which is something else the Wonder Dog feels very strongly about. But he's ok. his coat is somehow sorta water-repellent.

c'mon, elwood........please dont leave us with this on our minds. If we think about chickenshit for too long we might start thinking about politicians and thats just not right for the Sabbath day. and on that note Im going back to work.