The Cure That Kills

After a couple of days on the Cipro/Flagyl combination (actually the generics for those name-brands) I am in pretty bad shape.  Screaming headache, wiped out wanting to sleep all the time, not able to carry a lucid conversation, heart rhythms skipping all over the place.  I hope there's an alternative medication, I can't go a week like this.

I felt a whole lot better when I simply had the 101° fever and abdominal pain/pressure of diverticulitis.

Makes it all the more tempting to call my doc and beg them to cut out the offending part. If one were to ask me today about Paul's "thorn in the flesh", I would say it has to be diverticulitis.

Rep Dingell Thinks He Should Control the American People?

H/T to Lonely Conservative and American Thinker for this one. 

Representative John Dingell (D-MI) claims 18,000 people a year are dying for lack of health insurance coverage.You can listen to Dingell speaking with Paul W. Smith of station WJR 760 AM, billed as "The Great Voice of the Great Lakes" in Detroit.  The interview starts at about 1:24 on the timer.  A new age of serfdom has arrived; Dingell speaks of his constituents as "my people".  He offered this lovely little thought:

"Let me remind you this [Americans allegedly dying because of lack of universal health care] has been going on for years. We are bringing it to a halt. The harsh fact of the matter is when you’re going to pass legislation that will cover 300 [million] American people in different ways it takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people."  (Emphasis added)

If 18,000 people a year are dying, why did they not get those people covered NOW instead of 4 years from now?  Can the Democrats now take credit for  72,000 needless deaths because of their delay? 

Health reform is not about helping people, it's about controlling people.

Unconscionable!

Sweet Runty; R.I.P.

We lost a couple of little battles this week. Earlier this summer we had a couple of surprises in the chicken yard when one of our little Old English Game hens hid in a wall with some eggs and managed to hatch them. We got two adorable little chicks, but didn't get any pictures of them. This week one became paralyzed in her legs and we had to have her euthanized.

Last year another Old English hen hid with some eggs, and brought forth the little brood you see in the accompanying picture. Most of them were roosters, but one little girl who did not develop fully, we named Runty. She was tiny and delicate, but sweet and personable as are most Old English Game chickens. We looked out for her carefully as she was so much smaller than the other birds and could easily get beat up on or trampled. She got sick earlier this year, but pulled through okay, then last week she got sick again. This time we lost her. In spite of all our best efforts our sweet, innocent little Runty went over the Rainbow Bridge. She was strong and held on for quite a while, but finally let go on Friday night. I cried a lot. She did not deserve this ugly, lingering end. In retrospect I wish I had taken her to the vet as well. I hate death but it is a sad fact that we live in a broken world and it will not be better on this side of Heaven.

After euthanizing the first chick earlier this week, the vet suggested we might want a necropsy (autopsy) done. We concurred and signed the consent papers. Yesterday I spoke to the vet and he did not yet have the results of the histopathology but the person performing the necropsy saw nerve swelling suggestive of Marek's disease, one of the more dreaded things your flock can contract. I am very sad. We used to have a clean and healthy flock, Marek's is forever. I feel tainted, like we have the plague and should be ostracized from polite (and disease-free) society.

We'll miss you Runty.