Interview

A substantive (close to two hours) discussion of my most recent book, No Politics, No Religion?

https://youtu.be/UfKbGQomrLo

The Game’s Afoot

Okay, you don’t have to “like” or comment on this one. Many did for the previous post, and I am floored and touched at the response to my health-related posts. Thanks, guys. It means a lot.

That said, as we all know, I do not want to be accused of sadfishing. This isn’t a “poor Greg” thing. As mentioned before, I just find the whole MS, hospital, PT clinic thing weird and I want to share my surreal journey. And as Kate would approve: it’s relatable content.

So, to business: The operation went well. It could have gone three hours, but I skated through in an hour. Now get this: the bloody thing was disconnected! All that technical mumbo-jumbo about what could have been wrong with the catheter … disconnected. [sigh] Yep, of course that happened.

I am now in my hospital room reading Darwin. I have learned some very interesting things about duck bones.

The surgeon dialed my pump down to 75 micrograms a day—from 468; we will now start this whole thing over again. It will be 20-30 percent at a time. And when we see results is anyone’s guess. President Harris might be at the 100-day stretch. Who knows??

I’d say I’m getting the hang of this oversharing thing. Okay, on second thought, you damn-well better like this post. I’m very sensitive.

Photos: pre-op, recovery, room

Once More Unto the Breach

My mobility has continued to worsen. I’m not in great shape. They have been dialing up my pump for months now. I am now at 468 micrograms a day—up from 50. Thus far, I have seen no benefit. 

They recently determined (I live at Northwestern anymore) the catheter going to my spine is not delivering the drug to my spinal fluid. So, the pump is pumping Baclofen into the surrounding tissue. Therefore, I have basically been peeing Baclofen for four months. Neat, huh?

I am now up in the city for surgery. Again. Bright and early tomorrow morning they will replace a portion of the catheter. There was a 12 percent chance of catheter failure, and I’m nothing if not lucky. So, here I am. 

I am right now in my hotel room—no, it’s not the Peninsula, which is more my scene. But the Hampton will do nicely.

And I am embarrassed to admit that I have never read Darwin’s Origin of Species. Therefore, I will be engrossed in that for the next few days. I’m not sure how long I’ll be up here. But, I have Darwin to keep me company.

The title of this post is from Shakespeare’s Henry V. I’ll leave you with this. It’s of no special significance—but fans of Sherlock Holmes will appreciate the selection:

For there is none of you so mean and base,

That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.

I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,

Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:

Follow your spirit, and upon this charge

Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

I voted

That’s that. Yesterday, I did my civic duty and voted. Being a citizen of Illinois, I typically vote Green Party. Illinois is a solid Democratic state, so it’s about guaranteed that its electoral votes will go to the blue team. 

I will always vote against the Republicans. They do not represent the American people and have lurched far to the right in recent decades. They have become a party whose top priority is pampering the wealthy and ultra-wealthy. To do this, they need to get votes from the working class. In order to achieve this, they use racism, hatred, trans-phobia, and muscular rhetoric about women, global warming, and returning this country to some imagined (White) reality that supposedly existed in the 1950s.

If you don’t own a private jet and you don’t think this should be a White nation and you’re voting Republican, I truly do not understand your priorities.

So, I voted for Kamala Devi. (The Green Party didn’t even make the ballot this time around; but I was going to vote for KH anyway.) I have written about her on this blog to an extent. Politically, she’s cut from the Clinton-Obama-Biden bolt of fabric. She’s a 1970s Republican and nothing more. Is she an ideal candidate? No. Does she come with disappointments? Yes. Do I feel she will do a decent job? Yes.

Trump is a clown, a liar, a philanderer, a sexual predator, a racist, a convicted felon, an insurrectionist, and a misogynist. I’m sure I missed a few. He is transparently promoting himself and does not care at all about the working class, or women, or the country. If I had children, I would not want them in the same room with that man.

So, we’ll see how this shakes out. I suspect there will be some chaos. Trump and his merry party will do whatever they can to secure the White House. Violence is a possibility.

I do suspect that voter turnout will be unprecedented. This bodes well for Harris. I would very much like to see her win this thing. And I would very much like to see her opponent lose this thing—and head to prison.

Maxim 393

Trump proposes a day of violence to fight crime. I propose a day of judging him by the same standards Harris is judged by.

Maxim 392

The Middle East’s problems as they currently exist are roughly 90 years old. People who say otherwise are pretending they know history. They don’t.

Maxim 391

Fixing the Electoral College would be like improving cancer.