Job Discussion Forums

[extoere]

Poro: You're also right about LA's dependency on water. Jeez, even "Chinatown," a Chandler story set in the late 30s, demonstrated that. But the demographics of places like LA, San Francisco and Vegas cannot be ignored by politicians of both parties seeking office. Just as critical as water is the elaborate social system created in these cities, such as the medical programs in which I work, that are so utterly dependent on constant infusions of federal aid ---- meaning, of course, the taxes paid by those in other areas, whose "broad-based contributions," as one Democratic counselor so felicitously termed them --- might better be used for other, equally pressing problems at their point of origin. While you're at it, you might want to check the number of emergency rooms, from Southern California through Texas, forced to close because of their immediate accessibility by ---- and let's be very clear on this ---- anyone; that's anyone --- taking a taxi from a border town in Mexico to any border city in the U.S.

Now, I'm going to try to temporarily put aside these trivial speculations and watch a football game; tomorrow, the medical charts.

cheers,
ex

[poro]

[extoere]

Poro: Thanks for such a delightfully engaging response. Again, I find I'm in agreement with you on so many points. Mainly, on our dependency to "know" anything beyond what we're told. That's so true. As you said, we'll choose whom and what to believe and leave it there.

Re: the "gurney," I've been there several times, in multiple life-threatening conditions, and I'm not at all worried about the future; I try to concentrate on enjoying life, meaning indulging myself in everything a prudent soul wouldn't. Alas, now without my motorcycle. But thanks very much for the thoughts.

Nine years is a long time in the Army. Assume it was either Canadian, British or some UK country. Ancecdote. When he was an 18 yr old kid, fresh from Hawaii, a specialized company of his Ranger Batt was given a joint assignment with a reinforced squad of the SAS, the military unit to whose proficiency all other units the world over aspire. Involved special helicopter insertions and extractions in hostage situations. Assembled in a darkened auditorium, the US kids were in awe of these famed Brit commandos, who marched in to the eerie sounds of bagpipes as the lights were slowly potted up. Said they could have kept their choppers flying on the energy of their own adrenalin. Still talks about it.

cheers,
extoere
P.S. Overwhelmingly, the polls look bad for Kerry. Overwhelmingly, the future of Iraq looks bleak for most of us. No matter who wins.

[texastmblwd69]

I'm as American as apple pie and I'll be casting my vote for Kerry. However, since I'm a resident of Texas, I'm afraid I might as well be voting for Clarence the Crosseyed Lion, since all of Texas' electoral college votes are guaranteed to be cast for Bush. Still, when faced with two evils (bigoted, hate-filled, my-way-or-the-highway Bush or not bigoted, sometimes confused, big hair, war hero Kerry), I'll take Kerry. Nader and the "also-rans" don't have a snowball's chance in hades.

[extoere]

Tumbleweed: Sounds like a Yellow Dog Democrat to me. But that dawg don't hunt much anymore, does it! And when did a Texan start using the word "hades," 'stead a "Hell?" You musta be listenin' to Dixie Squawks 'n readin' the Observer! Next thang, it'll be Garrison Keilor 'n Prarie Home Companion. But I reckon ol' Kerry's got as much chance a winnin' Texas as ol' Garrison has of voluntarily givin' up his multi-million dollar public subsidy. Me, I don't give a hoot 'n a holler ....

cheers,
ex
P.S. Better luck at the Big Shootout Next Year In Dallas!

[texastmblwd69]

[extoere]

Tumbleweed: Dang me! Oughta take a rope 'n hang me!

Everyone has their burden. Living in Houston is indeed a torturous form of punishment. But cheer up. Tomorrow Is Another Day. You might move to San Antonio!

cheers,
ex

[poro]

[extoere]

Poro: Healthy? Wouldn't know Healthy if Healthy walked up and kicked me in the nuts. I'd have to give up smoking, drinking and Buddhist Nuns in Ancient Chinese Temples. I'd have to eat a steady diet of whole, charbroiled sesame seeds and parbroiled cauliflower, and suck on ice cubes of Poland Water. Come to think of it, though, Glenn Gould did all that and died right on schedule at around 50, didn't he? And more's the pity that this greatest of Bach's interpreters probably never knew a single Buddhist Nun during all those years of fugue-ing. So, when the lights go out, I fully intend to have a grin on my face in the full knowledge that I'm simultaneously Going and Coming.

The SAS wrote the book. Our Delta Force, comprised of ex-Rangers, Berets and a few others, is probably just as good. Ranger units, though, are classified as light infantry assault troops, whose role is pretty well prescribed, and not as highly trained as SAS. Only three batts of 600 men at any given time, total of only 1800 active Rangers. Broken legs are nearly order of the day. In Panama, because of low-firing anti-aircraft, they were dropped with no emergency chutes at less than 500 feet. In Georgia, a kid doing a night training jump with my son had his face taken off by a jagged tree branch. The high casualty rate tends to steer older, smarter guys into the Berets, where the livin' is much easier.

All in all, the appeal of extreme danger, including high-risk assignments with less than a 50% chance of success, is what seems to turn on these young turks. In the case of my youngest, when he was an 8-yr-old, growing up in an idyllic little windward community of Hawaii, he and his best buddy used to climb up into the mountains, playing Army. Out of high school, he became a Ranger; the other kid became a Recon Marine. Today, he's a sushi chef; the other a math teacher. They both have great kids, both are in the Hawaii Guard, and are currently in desert training in Texas, soon to be in Iraq. Why these kids wanted to be warriors, I'll never understand. I sometimes taught school with the other kid's mother, and neither family was pro-military, and both were very anti-war.

Bagpipes? Yeah, bagpipes. Don't think he'd ever heard live bagpipes (he was a violinist). But I can understand how their eerie notes, layered over the rising sound of blackened-face SAS studs marching into a dimly lit auditorium would raise the adrenalin level of a roomful of 18 yr olds.

Back on topic, a check of the polls today indicates Bush leading in a big majority of them, including the all-important Zogby. With about two weeks remaining, I think we can expect voices to become more strident and accusations to become wilder. Maybe even a redux of the famed Texas Yellow Dawg Democratis' claim of "My opponent _____ pigs!"

best,
ex

[distiller]

The latest Zolgby poll http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=895 has it locked at 45% and really at this point there is little use trying to say anyone is ahead because everyone's lead whether it be Bush or Kerry falls within the margin of error and so many of the polls contradict each other. All we can really say is that it is going to be rally tight. Democrats have registered more voters http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041019/ap_on_el_pr/winning_the_new_voters_7 but it could go eihter way as Kerry and Bush are both holding onto leads of less than 5% in about 11 states worth over 120 electoral votes.

[extoere]

Distiller: Quite so.

ex

[extoere]

Cap'n Yossarian: Gabriel Marquez' new book was published just today in Mexico City. Its title is "Memories of My Melancholy W-h-o-r-e-s." Yes, as you say, I can just imagine he and Bubba in late-night, probably to early-morning, discussions.

Cheers,
ex

[moonraven]

Just what we need--some moldy fantasizer passing judgment on other folks' wild oats.

Perhaps you should be advised that Garcia Marquez' new book, Memorias de mis tristes putas, is a NOVEL.

[dmb]

Isn't a novel a book? It's certainly not a newspaper or magazine.

[moonraven]

Uh--dumbo, my point was that the book is not another volume of Gabo's autobiography. It is fiction. Ergo, it's unlikely that it would provoke a discussion with "Bubba" in regard to whores-I-have-known.