Seeking Meaning.

Dr. Craig Spencer's condition as updated this afternoon:

"Serious but stable," definition, please. Okay.



US practice

A wide range of terms are often used to describe a patient's condition. The American Hospital Association advises physicians to use the following one-word conditions in describing a patient's condition to those inquiring, including the media.

...

Serious

Vital signs may be unstable and not within normal limits. Patient is seriously ill. Indicators are questionable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_state

Wait!

• Serious – Vital signs may be unstable and not within normal limits. Patient is acutely ill. Indicators are questionable. http://outbreaknewstoday.com/dr-spencers-condition-unchanged-tulsa-patient-tests-positive-for-malaria-59961/

On the whole, I think I'd rather be "seriously ill" rather than "acutely ill." I said I think.

Serious: Vital signs may be unstable and not within normal limits. Patient is acutely ill. Indicators are questionable.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/11/what_does_stable_condition_mean.html
Alright, that's 2-1 for "acutely" ill.

Hey, what about the "stable" part, huh?

Stable means just that, stable: he isn’t becoming Critical nor is his condition improving to Fair.

http://outbreaknewstoday.com/dr-spencers-condition-unchanged-tulsa-patient-tests-positive-for-malaria-59961/
Wait!

Other terms

Other terms used include grave, extremely critical, critical but stable, serious but stable, guarded,[2] satisfactory, and others.

A frequently cited condition is "stable". Typically, stable is not a condition on its own; it is usually qualified with an aforementioned condition. It is commonly used to denote conditions where a patient has a favorable prognosis or stable vital signs. The American Hospital Association has advised doctors not to use the word "stable" either as a condition or in conjunction with another condition, especially one that is critical, because a critical condition inherently implies unpredictability and the instability of vital signs.[1] Despite this, "critical but stable" conditions are frequently reported, likely because the word "critical" in mainstream usage is often used to denote a condition that is severe and immediately life-threatening.

So! "Serious but stable" means that the patient's vital signs may be "unstable," the patient is "acutely" ill and "indicators are 'questionable,'" he isn't getting better or worse,...the, um, "unstable" nature of his vital signs are..."stable?", he has a "favorable prognosis?," which seems to contradict that his "indicators are 'questionable'" and "stable vital signs" does contradict the part of the definition of "serious" that "vital signs may be unstable"--But which would not contradict that part of the definition of "serious" that vital signs may NOT  be unstable, the alternative to "may;" if something "may be" it also "may NOT be. See?  Probably best not to use "stable" with a condition as the AHA says "especially one that is critical" which Dr. Spencer is NOT, he's "serious," so AHA does NOT "especially" advise against using "stable" in conjunction with "serious," it just "advises" that "stable" NOT  be used in conjunction with "serious;" it's just their advice, there's no law against it or anything, you can do it if you want; Bellevue wanted to so they did. So, that's it...You're welcome.

"I too am a Seeker."

"What is the talk?" said Kim, abashed.

"Thou wast wondering there in thy spirit what manner of thing thy soul might be...Of what faith art thou?"

"I also have lost it," he said sadly. "It is one of the Gates to the Way, but for me it has been shut many years."

"Who is Kim--Kim--Kim?"

In a minute--in another half-second--he felt he would arrive at the solution...but here, as always happens, his mind dropped away...

A long-haired Hindu bairagi [holy man]...halted before him at that moment and stared intently.

"He is a Seeker."

"From time to time, God causes men to be born--and thou art one of them--who have a lust to go abroad at the risk of their lives and discover news--to-day it may be of far-off things, tomorrow of some hidden mountain, and the next day of some near-by men who have done a foolishness against the State."

"Little Friend of all the World."

Have I mentioned that I love children above all things? Well, I do, and a lot. A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.

It's Friday UTC but those scholars have me pretty uninspired. Don't feel like dancing. Maybe go to the Mosque and pray, I don't know. See how I feel.

Oh! It's Halloween! Shit. Maybe I'll dress up as a big A or a frigging amber wave of grain. I don't know, pretty uninspiring costume ideas. Maybe I'll just take it easy.

Scholars.

I just can't get over that painting. "A Scholar" by Rembrandt. When was the open-mouth look a sign of intelligence? In Remmy's time I guess. It is so associated--universally--with doltishness now. "Lobotomized Uncle Performing Only Menial Task He Can, Copying," that would be the name of that painting today. I mean, whoever you are, do you realize how much you look like Paul Krugman?! Jeez.

Hearda L&C. Didn't know it was in Portlandia. What's that logo supposed to mean?

Grow wheat in Kansas. Gotitgotitgotit. Glad they don't grow tumors.

?  "A Utah State?" What do you mean A Utah State? Not even curious enough to look it up. DON'T care.

Pretty unimpressive group of Krugmans today. 

Earhart

"The patch was as unique to her particular aircraft as a fingerprint is to an individual. Research has now shown that a section of aircraft aluminum TIGHAR found on Nikumaroro in 1991 matches that fingerprint in many respects. For a detailed study of this important new development see The Window, The Patch, and The Artifact, Research Bulletin #73 on the TIGHAR website."

That's a fail. 

1. TIGHAR cite to no forensic authority for their assertion that the patch was "unique."
2. As unique "as a fingerprint." In fact, the National Academies of Science in a review of all the forensic fields has stated that there is insufficient scientific basis to make the claim of uniqueness as to fingerprints! And have recommended against fingerprint comparison experts so testifying. 
3. "Match." NAS says drop the "match."

At this point TIGHAR has proved nothing. However the evidence is strongly supportive of their proposition that the found evidence came from Amelia Earhart's aircraft.

Amelia Earhart in Kiribati?

This is the evidence. Immediately below Earhart's plane taking off from Miami. The lighter aluminum patch is clearly visible.

And today, that patch believed found on Kiribati.

The dimensions are said to be the same. Don't look the same. That piece is pretty shiny after 77 years, no? Metallurgical tests?

Do not look at Kiribati like that, woman. They find it, you see.

"Amelia Earhart Plane Fragment Identified."-Fox News.

"New research strongly suggests that a piece of aluminum aircraft debris recovered in 1991 from Nikumaroro, an uninhabited atoll in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati, does belong to [Amelia] Earhart’s twin-engined Lockheed Electra."-Fox.

Get out of town. Amelia Earhart on Kiribati? Kiribati! My bros and sis-bros! How it does go? You famous now for more than coconut bra and disappear in ocean!

Yahoo, excuse me Yahoo!, news puts a ? at the end of its headline and goes on to say:

"At least that's the contention of researchers with The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), a private organization that's been on the trail of Earhart for years."

Kiribati, they no deprive you of this. Flying TIGHARS find it on Kiribati! 

The Day.

Referring Sites:

-62.210.181.15:3130.

Weirdest thing I ever saw. No idea what that is.

Search Keywords:

-obama clinically depressed?
-barack obama depressed 2014 (yesterday)

There have been several similar search queries since writing that post.

Countries:

Man, we fell out of favor with the South Koreans real fast, not a single visitor today! And how many yesterday, 50+? Google why do you report out BS like that?

U.S. 79, Russia, 30, only two countries in double figures. 

"Jerry Jones is Fucking Crazy."-Deadspin.

He-he-he-he. Oh my God, thank goodness somebody else writes like that. Deadspin is an American sports website, well-respected. It doesn't matter who Jones is. Thank you Deadspin for that headline.

Moving On.

It was to be called the "Pitt Vaccine."

He came from the east. Jonas Salk came from New York and he came west looking for a laboratory of his own. Pitt gave it to him. He wanted complete control and went on national radio and preempted JAMA's publication of the scientific paper written by him and his Pitt team. "The Scientist Speaks for Himself," was precisely what his career became. It was the "Salk Vaccine" after the the scientist spoke for himself and at the conference at the University of Michigan where the trials were deemed a success he credited none of his Pitt colleagues by name.

He left Pitt when Chancellor Edward Litchfield wouldn't give him total independence from the university for a proposed new mega-lab and in 1960 the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, producer of eight Nobel Laureates was created, in LaJolla California.

A Precisely Measurable Triumph.

Google's doodle today is:

The caption to this photograph, from Wikipedia's "polio vaccine" page, reads:

"Jonas Salk administers his polio vaccine on February 26, 1957 in the Commons Room of the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh where the vaccine was created by Salk and his team."

There was a time. There was a time when this nation, and the world, turned its attention, and its hopes, to Pitt.

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — It took a plane, a bus, a water taxi and a van to get Samantha Power here to the capital...-NBC News.

Sierra Leone, she's yours.

The Day.

Entry	Pageviews
South Korea	59
United States	32
Russia	25
Poland	19
Germany	10
Ukraine	9
France	8
Australia	5
Slovenia	4
China                                           2

Ok, fine. Somebody from South Korea email me, publocc@gmail.com. Make my The Day.
Bullshit.

Pageviews ("Now") by Countries.

South Korea, 25.
United States, 3.
Canada, 1.
Russia, 1.
Swaziland, 1.

Bullshit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sj-NKqR0tw

Dilma Rousseff, whose cell phone President Obama bugs, won reelection as president of Brazil.

The Day.

Search keyword:

afghanistan daily mail.

Pageviews by country:

Russia, 26.
United States, 26
Germany, 11.
France, 10.

Fiji, 1.

Sporting news:

-One Mississippi down. The University of lost. Mississippi State won.
-lol Pitt.
-Manchester City didn't play. I don't think they played. Missed it if they did. Totally friggin missed it. NO idea.

Scholarly types:

Moscow.

Waltham.

I picked an old book off my bookshelf; I would have gotten the book in 1977 or 1978. I was leafing through the book and there was what appeared to be a bookmark. It was a small letter, folded. Had no idea what it was. I took the small letter out and unfolded it and saw the blue of my father's business letterhead at top.  I was astonished. The letter was undated and typewritten and I read:

Ben,

When you get down, pray a little to God. It really does help.

-Dad

Dad was a good man. I have no memory of this letter, no idea why I was "down" in 1977-78, the happiest year of my life, but I must have been home on break from graduate school, something obviously was troubling me and when I left my father would have gone back to work and typed out that note at the office and mailed it to me. My dad was a good man.

Haven't They Suffered Enough?

The mad Irishwoman is going to west Africa.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2014; 6:00 pm

Joint Statement of Health and Hospitals Corporation and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

The patient at Bellevue Hospital Center is entering the next phase of his illness, as anticipated with the appearance of gastrointestinal symptoms.

The patient is awake and communicating. The Bellevue clinical team in charge of care for the patient is in constant communication with CDC and with other leading medical centers such as Emory University Hospital and the Nebraska Medical Center.  A large CDC team has been actively involved in advising the Bellevue staff and we are very appreciative of the additional guidance.  

In addition to the required supportive therapy, we initiated antiviral therapy within hours of admission. We also administered plasma therapy yesterday. These therapies have been used at Emory and Nebraska. 

The patient's fiancée will return to her home this evening under quarantine.  

And there you have it, the official statement. 

Thank you, you've been very he'pful.

Ebola: Craig Spencer.

The condition of New York City’s first Ebola patient, Dr. Craig Spencer, worsened* on Saturday, though he remained awake and communicative, health officials said.
...
Dr. Spencer, 33, was “entering the next and more serious phase of his illness, as anticipated with the appearance of gastrointestinal symptoms,” Ana Marengo, a spokeswoman for the city’s public hospital system, said in a statement. Dr. Spencer has been in isolation at Bellevue Hospital Center since Thursday, when he reported a 100.3 degree fever.
...
The statement was careful not to convey a sense of pessimism, and patients undergoing treatment can worsen before they recover.
...
Part of the usual course of the disease is the onset of diarrhea, which can cause an enormous loss of fluids and electrolytes, shut down the kidneys and disrupt the heart rhythm. The key to treating Ebola patients is supportive care, experts say, so that they can stay alive long enough to allow their immune systems to fight off the virus. That usually begins to happen two to three weeks into the illness.
-The New York Times.

Well, that is not good, is it? No. What I cannot tell from this story in the Times is if it is bad. Well, "worsened" is bad, isn't it? Yes. How bad? That's what I cannot tell. Is it "just" bad, i.e. inevitable and we got this not to worry don't get hysterical? Or is it, "We thought our treatment in this first phase would have kept him from this "next and more serious phase"? 

The New York Times is a quasi-official house organ of the United States government and you have to read the Times as palimpsest. This is a very "neutral" report, isn't it? Yes, it is. They have clearly gotten the message to tone it down, to not create "hysteria." But they reported it! That Dr. Spencer's condition "worsened." I think to make more sense of this report, to know how bad is this bad we would have to know if Nina Pham or Amber Vinson went through this "next and more serious phase" and I don't know that. Reading the Times as palimpsest, I would guess Pham and Vinson did not enter this more serious phase. I think the last-quoted paragraph about trying ro have the patient "stay alive long enough"--I that is real bad, I bet Pham and Vinson never got this bad. That's what I bet. But I lose bets.

UPDATED 1:06 am, UTC: "Officials said the changes were anticipated but didn’t characterize whether his condition was worsening."-Wall Street Journal.

My God, this is political brilliance week. That should join Trey Gowdy's statement on Ron Klain in the political hall of fame. As far as I can tell, the person who started this tweet was Reza Aslan, below. Ms. Aslan, if you are the source, you, ma'am, are a genius.

Reza AslanVerified account
‏@rezaaslan
More Americans have been married to Kim Kardashian than have died from Ebola. Via @acereporter
9:13 AM - 20 Oct 2014

Ebola: "Why pick a dadgum lawyer?"

"Why in the world did the president pick a dadgum lawyer?"

"I mean, if this were an outbreak of people who don't have wills in West Africa or if this was an outbreak of contested elections in West Africa then I'd say yeah, go hire Mr. Klain but it's not. It's a medical crisis."

-Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina.

OHH! OHH! OMG, THAT IS THE GREATEST! Trey Gowdy, we are not worthy. There should be a Political Hall of Fame just so those comments can be enshrined.

Hail to Pitt.

Smaller story but I am sure you will be interested. The University of Pittsburgh tackle football team of scholars is an irrelevancy (small story) this year as it has been for over 30 years. But there are those who love her.

Those old enough remember that there was once a brief shining moment; there was a time when the "Panthers" were kings.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania takes its name from the greatest British political figure of the 18th century, William Pitt the Elder.

And for as long as there has been a University of Pittsburgh it has been known familiarly as "Pitt."

At the beginning of the time that was to culminate in orgiastic frisson for those who love her in the "precisely measurable triumph" of 1976, at the beginning of all of that, in 1973, the university adopted William Pitt's signature as the logo for its sports teams.

William Pitt's signature, the university's new logo, became inextricably intertwined with the greatness of the men's football and basketball teams from 1973 to about 1982. Never mind that after that time, more than a "moment" but more a moment than an era, and continuing for the next 15 years, more an era, Pitt SUCKED. Never mind that. For there are those who loved her.

Then in 1996 a brash, young (36 years old), energetic, charismatic, carpet-bagging, swine, BOOB! (There are those who did not love him.) named Steve Pederson was put in charge of all university athletics. Down went Pitt as the official un-official name of the university, down went Pitt Stadium, down went William Pitt the Elder's signature as the university's athletic signature and up went an abortion of a logo, an offense to design art, an offense to humanity, a primitive, repulsive, long-in-the-tooth, hunched, grinning, sneering, snarling, leering-appearing, child-predator-like feline nicknamed "Dinocat:"

After six years of destruction the carpet-bagging Pederson returned to his alma mater the University of Afghanistan.

Up stayed "Pittsburgh" and "Dinocat" to the dismay of those who still loved her as legacy to the
dearly-departed. In 2005, the university exhumed Pitt but kept the block letter font as it may have been written in the first grade by Willam Pitt the Baby. And in 2007, like a bad meal that won't stay down, Pederson was back. Oh! the humanity.

Today, quite unexpectedly, in the middle, the middle, of the football season, another season of football mediocrity, a season of mediocrity that has now lasted over 30 seasons Steve Pederson announced that beginning tomorrow and "for the future" William Pitt the Elder's cursive signature is back.

It may not have been his idea, the timing and manner of the announcement suggest the change was forced upon him by the new hierarchy of the university but it is he who made the announcement and tonight there are those who love Steve Pederson.

Ebola.

You know how yesterday Dr. Craig Spencer was reported--everywhere--to have had a 103 fever. WRONG. 100.3. Big diff. BIG diff.

He is such a great guy. Dr. Anthony Fauci, not Dr. Thomas Frieden, was the one in the photo-op with Nina Pham when she was released from the hospital and was also on one of the Sunday news shows last week. Have not heard Dr. Frieden say a word this week and he was Mr. Ebola until then. I wish the Obamas would let Dr. Fauci take charge of this--and be its public face and voice. And just say no to Ron Klain. Klain started work as "Czar" this week but has been quiet too, probably to get the lay of the land. 

Ladies and gentlemen, it is Friday in all normal parts of the world. It is mandatory we dance. Tonight let us dance with the devil by the pale moonlight, but not too close. In our Ebola suits.

"Ebola Live Blog: New York's First Reported Case."-New York Times.

Oh my God! "Ebola Live Blog" in The New York Times?! Lmao.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/live-blog-new-yorks-first-reported-case-of-ebola/renderstyle/phone/?nytapp=mobile_web&nytmobile=0

Mr. President, better get the Czar on this asap! Lol.

The link between Ebola and Presbyterianism continues.

Dr. Craig Spencer was a fellow at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. That is the most cumbersome goddamned name. 

Can someone get Ebola from a blog visited by someone from NY-PH/CUMC on October 17, said blog written with a particularly sharp object by a person the religion which he does not practice being Presbyterianism? Huh?

Number 4.

"A health care worker at the hospital said that Dr. Spencer seemed very sick, and it was unclear to the medical staff why he had not gone to the hospital earlier, since his fever was high."
-The New York Times.

May God keep Craig Spencer.

Dr. Spencer told investigators he could not think of a breach in his Ebola suit that had occurred while he was in west Africa. That's him in his breaches in Belgium above. Looks breachless.

We are assured once again that Ebola is only transmitted..."direct contact"..."bodily fluids"..."object"...but are not reassured that New York City officials had already been trying to contact every single human being Spencer had looked at even before the diagnosis was made a few minutes ago. Those include a fiancee, a bowling party and whomever he might have had contact with in some "Uber," some vehicle I don't know what the hell it is. Why? WHY ARE THEY DOING THAT IF EBOLA IS ONLY TRANSMITTED..."DIRECT CONTACT"..."BODILY FLUIDS"..."OBJECT"? Huh? Causes distrust. Could cause "hysteria."

Good news though!  #3, Amber Vinson, is now Ebola-free as is #2, Nina Pham, and Nina's dog "Bentley."

Four.

New York City and Doctors Without Borders physician Craig Spencer has tested positive for the Ebola virus. Spencer was just back from west Africa.

Islam Has Bloody Borders.

Above the unforgettable scene of the Prophet Mohammad performing cunnilingus in the acclaimed documentary on his life Innocence of Muslims.

"American Slave" Jumps White House Fence, Nabbed by American Dogs.

Dominic Adesanya's linkedin self-description.

Islam Attacks Canada.

The dead terrorist was a recent convert.
Unbeknownst to moi, speaking the lingua franca of Quebec, Islam also murdered a Canadian soldier and injured another in a hit-and-run car attack on October 21.

"And, overshooting all other marks, the arrow passed far and far beyond sight. At the last it fell; and where it touched earth, there broke out a stream which presently became a River, whose nature, by our Lord's beneficence, and that merit He acquired ere He freed himself, is that whoso bathes in it washes away all taint and speckle of sin."

"Where is that river?"

Canadian Parliament Shooting.

Two or more gunmen began firing outside Parliament in Ottawa, entered and continued shooting. One of the gunmen was shot and killed as was a Canadian soldier. A guard at Parliament Hill was wounded. No motive now.

Police Shooting of Michael Brown.

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_e98a4ce0-c284-57c9-9882-3fb7df75fef6.html#.VEcXQFLUqWk.twitter

The official autopsy on Michael Brown shows that he was shot in the hand at close range, according to an analysis of the findings by two experts not involved directly in the case.
...
A source with knowledge of [Ofcr. Darren] Wilson’s statements said the officer had told investigators that Brown had struggled for Wilson’s pistol inside a police SUV and that Wilson had fired the gun twice, hitting Brown once in the hand. Later, Wilson fired additional shots that killed Brown and ignited a national controversy.

The St. Louis medical examiner, Dr. Michael Graham, who is not part of the official investigation, reviewed the autopsy report for the newspaper. He said Tuesday that it “does support that there was a significant altercation at the car.”

Graham said the examination indicated a shot traveled from the tip of Brown’s right thumb toward his wrist. The official report notes an absence of stippling, powder burns around a wound that indicate a shot fired at relatively short range.

But Graham said, “Sometimes when it’s really close, such as within an inch or so, there is no stipple, just smoke.” ["Smoke?" That whole statement is wrong. You see stippling or powder tattooing on the skin around a gunshot wound when a shot is close-range. In a contact wound the gunshot residue goes into the wound.]

The report on a supplemental microscopic exam of tissue from the thumb wound showed foreign matter “consistent with products that are discharged from the barrel of a firearm.” [That is what you would find. That is consistent with a contact wound.]

Dr. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist in San Francisco, said the autopsy “supports the fact that this guy is reaching for the gun, if he has gunpowder particulate material in the wound.” ["In the wound." That is correct. And that evidence would "support the fact" that Brown was reaching for Wilson's gun.] She added, “If he has his hand near the gun when it goes off, he’s going for the officer’s gun.” [That is a step too far.]

Sources told the Post-Dispatch that Brown’s blood had been found on Wilson’s gun.

Melinek also said the autopsy did not support witnesses who have claimed Brown was shot while running away from Wilson, or with his hands up.


She said Brown was facing Wilson when Brown took a shot to the forehead, two shots to the chest and a shot to the upper right arm. The wound to the top of Brown’s head would indicate he was falling forward or in a lunging position toward the shooter; the shot was instantly fatal.

A sixth shot that hit the forearm traveled from the back of the arm to the inner arm, which means Brown’s palms could not have been facing Wilson, as some witnesses have said, Melinek said. That trajectory shows Brown probably was not taking a standard surrender position with arms above the shoulders and palms out when he was hit, she said. [Dr. Melinek is not quoted here and I am not going to take the reporter's summary of what she said. I would need to see the autopsy report and the body diagram and then hear Melinek's exact statement. I will say that medical examiners do not say evidence "means" one shooting scenario is correct, they will say that their findings are "consistent" with a proffered scenario. Medical examiners are particularly reluctant to go there with a part of the body that is so movable, like, as here, an arm.]

That post mortem, conducted the morning after Brown’s death, comports in most ways with the findings of a private autopsy arranged by Brown’s family and made public Aug. 18.

In that one, Dr. Michael M. Baden, a nationally known forensic pathologist, said none of Brown’s wounds appeared to have been from shots fired at close range. [Baden's autopsy findings and the findings of the official autopsy are diametrically opposed on the crucial issue of the range of fire.]

Baden noted then that there was no gunshot residue on the body, so it appeared to him that the muzzle of the weapon was at least one or two feet away. He said, “It could have been 30 feet away.”[Correct, unless it was a contact wound in which case you wouldn't see gunshot residue on the body, you would find it in the body, along the wound track, which they did according to the above.]
...
The official autopsy also confirmed that tissue from Brown was found on the exterior of the driver’s side of Wilson’s vehicle.

“Someone got an injury that tore off skin and left it on the car,” Graham said. “That fits with everything else that came out. There’s blood in the car, now skin on the car, that shows something happened right there.” [That is what that would mean.]

The Day.

Weird day here. Most-read post by far: http://publicoccurrenc.blogspot.com/2014/02/blog-post.html?m=1. How far? 36 pageviews; #2, October 21 Ebola post, 3. And all those 36 from readers, I assume plural, in France, which makes France #2 in pageviews-by-country today, unsurprisingly. Vive la France. The four countries in double-figures today (midnight UTC, ~1:45 ago):

USA, 44.
France, 38.
Germany, 11.
Japan, 10.

Sayonara.

America's City Upon a Hill.

Topographical map of Monticello. Mulberry Row slave quarters to right.

Access routes, slave and white.

Monticello as it looked in 1870.

Made nice and shiny for Americans today.

The great Republican withdrawn, separated, isolated, above all.

Do you know there is not a single goddamned entry in the entire googleverse for "psychology of Thomas Jefferson?" That guy was cracked, man: Martha Jefferson was his third cousin--By the way, try finding out something about Martha. Nothing! No pic, no writing, nothing by TJ on her, NOTHING!--Martha's dad knocked up Sally Hemings slave mom, making Sally and Martha half-sisters; Sally and Martha looked alike; slave Sally came with Martha to TJ as part of her dowry; Martha died after the birth of a child, made TJ promise never to remarry, TJ inconsolable at Martha's death, well not quite, has Martha-look-alike slave-Sally move into White House; 37-year relationship with slave-Martha-look-alike-Sally; knocks Sally up; never manumits Sally even in his will!; never manumits their children in his life; writes "All men created equal," very Christian; was not a Christian, was an Epicurean; arch-Republican; conflict-averse; not so conflict-averse that he didn't own 600 slaves, approve whipping his own slaves (by others, of course); not so conflict averse that he didn't disapprove, Mao-like, violence (by others, of course) of French Revolution "Terror;" approved "terror" (by others, of course) of selling own frisky slaves into Deep South as "example" to the others; designed and built Monticello on top of a mountain, above and withdrawn from the world; ingenious use of topography to keep slaves on Mulberry Row out of sight, out of mind; ingenious use of tunnels, dumbwaiters, false doors to keep downstairs slaves out of sight out of mind of upstairs Sage and guests. Lived a lie his entire goddamned life.

No! Nothing to write about on Jefferson's psychology! Guy was an open book.

America was created by Thomas Jefferson. His psyche is our psyche. And we have lived his lies. We have white-washed his history, denied it, suppressed it, censored it. The American "City on a Hill?" It's Monticello.

Image: the only known likeness of Martha Jefferson.

"43 people are off Ebola watch list in US, over 200 still on the list."-ABC News.

The Genius of Thomas Jefferson.

Slave tunnel under Monticello.

“Never did a man achieve more fame for what he did not do.”

Jefferson lived a lie. America was founded upon his words, written in his hand. "How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?" The Declaration of Independence is America's birth certificate and it is a lie. The "genius" of Thomas Jefferson lies in how he was able to keep starkly opposite thoughts, beliefs and actions in one person. Jefferson had a genius for lying.

"We Need More Hospitals Equipped to Treat Ebola, NIH's Fauci Tells Meet the Press."-NBC

We Want Fauci! We Want Fauci! 

Out With Flounder! Out With Flounder!

The Day.*

-Violent Clashes Erupt Near Pumpkin Festival.-NBC News.

-Gunfire Exchanged on Korean Boundary.-New York Times.

-Obama Makes Rare Campaign Appearance, People Leave Early.-Yahoo News.

*Updated 1:19 am UTC:

-First sexual act to reproduce committed by ancient Scottish fish-Express.

     -Fish's name is Microbrachius dicki.

-Winnipeggers React After Vatican Rebuffs Pope's Views on Gays.-CBC.

I bet Francis is gonna be up half the night worrying about that. 

Weird headline day.

Ebola Deadline Passes!*

Sundown in Dallas, Texas, USA is 6:49 pm which means unless there is some cruelly late bad news, the 48 initial people who were quarantined for 21 days have made it symptom-free and Ebola-free!

*Update, 7:06 pm Dallas time. According to dfw.com 14 people were cleared Saturday night. And the remaining 34 will be cleared by midnight, less than five hours from now. Swine.

Jefferson and Mao.

It has been the mortified opinion, frequently expressed, of this son of the American Revolution that there was insufficient just cause for...the Revolution. And that the Founding Fathers were nuts.

Said opinion and accompanying mortification came about quite accidentally and naturally in the course of this here writer's general reading, he did not perform a Google search for "things that will mortify me," he recollects that it began with reading Professor Gordon Wood's book which he has at the moment done forgot the name of* but really became fixed when he actually, like, read the Declaration of Independence written by the Sage of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson. The undersigned was embarrassed.

However, even previous to his paradigm shift the undersigned did not have an unalloyed opinion of Mr. Jefferson. It was alloyed. Some lead there. Slave-holder, Sally Hemings and then his words in the now debased Dec. of Ind. Saul Padover's biography was hagiography, he could see that and he regretted buying it.

Never though, never, I say, did the undersigned think that Thomas Jefferson had read Quotations from Chairman Mao, even now he thinks that unlikely, or could have written some of the "good parts" of the little red book. However the parallels between some of the good parts of the writing of each were so striking (mortifyingly so) that the undersigned did perform a Google search "Thomas Jefferson and Mao Zedong." Me thought maybe Maoie plagiarized. Honestly. The sentiments expressed, so cold, brutal, were so similar, the particular words used were sometimes identical, the undersigned thought perhaps peut etre Maoie had read Tommy. This writer's Google search turned up no evidence of plagiarism by Mao. There was only one serious-sounding search result, a PhD thesis by a John Prindle Stead entitled The Roots of Democracy in Thomas Jefferson and Mao Tse-tung but the undersigned can't read it on account of it's not, like, in print. The undersigned may attempt to find and contact John Prindle Stead. Or he may not. Only so much mortification a body can take.

*The Idea of America.

Monticello Mao.

"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical."

"God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion...What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must from time to time be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

"I considered [the French Jacobins] as the same with the Republican patriots..." 

"It was necessary to use the arm of the people, a machine not quite so blind as balls and bombs, but blind to a certain degree. A few of their cordial friends met at their hands, the fate of enemies."

"...[R]ather than [the French Revolution] should have failed, I would have seen half the earth desolated. Were there but an Adam and an Eve left in every country, and left free, it would be better than as it now is."

"Revolution is no crime, to rebel is justified."

“In the worst case [of general nuclear war], half the people would die, but the other half would survive, and … imperialism would be wiped off the face of the earth, and the whole world would become socialist,”

"Beijing is too civilized! I would say there is not a great deal of disorder ... To the unfolding of nationwide all-round civil war!"

"Bombard the Headquarters." 

“I’m not afraid of nuclear war. There are 2.7 billion people in the world; it doesn’t matter if some are killed. China has a population of 600 million; even if half of them are killed, there are still 300 million people left.”

First five quotes, Thomas Jefferson; last five, Mao Zedong.

Sporting News.

Scholars at University of Notre Dame du lac, 5th ranked in the country, lost to the Florida State "Seminoles," #2 this week when the "Fighting Scholarly Irishmen" stalled at the FSU 2 yard line.

The Alabama "Harvey Updykes," number 7, squeaked by the Texas A&M "Rick Perry's, #21, 59-0. Poor A&M, they have lost three in a row, to then #12, now #1 Mississippi State, to #3 Mississippi, and now to #7 Alabama. Mississippi State did not play this week.

In the other football game, Kun Aguero scored 4 times as God's Angels in Sky Blue defeated the Tottenham "Bird Perched on a Ball," 4-1. Evil Chelsea beat Child Porn 2-1 and the Arsenal "Popguns" dropped two more points in salvaging a stoppage time draw with worthy Hull City. Arsene Wenger did not punch anybody out today. Which is good. Arsenal is 6th in the table but only 2 points out of their coveted and customary 4th place. Chevrolet United of Manchester who have been playing very well of late and sit 5th in the table, play at #14 West Bromwich Albion but not until Monday. 

Mr. President, when does Ron Klain start?

"Ebola lapses persisted for days at Dallas hospital."-Washington Times.

"More than 100 monitored for Ebola symptoms in Ohio."-Detroit Free Press.

"Ebola fears: Airline contacts 800 passengers; Belize blocks travel."-CNN.

Hong Kong Protests.

The kids retook Mong Kok and last night there was violence. Fifteen cops and "dozens" of protesters injured as well as 26 arrests per Telegraph.

Remarks on "Remarks of President Barack Obama. Weekly Address, October 18, 2014."

"...meeting a public health challenge like this isn't just a job for government."

Have you noticed that nothing is ever "just a job for government" with this guy? He means it isn't just HIS job--and if the bird hits the air pump it's not HIS fault. No matter what it is he has to get a coalition of "partners" involved, to spread responsibility. He will not simply ACT.

 "All of us-citizens, leaders, the media-have a responsibility and a role to play.  This is a serious disease, but we can't give in to hysteria or fear..."

I, "citizen," blogger ("media"), I have failed the president because I have given in to hysteria. See? And because I and other citizens and pencils have failed the president he has named Ron Klaim as Minister of Propoganda Ebola Czar: to counter the hysteria, to get the "right" message out, which message is below, and to keep us "on message." See?

"We have to remember the basic facts."

Message:

"First, what we're seeing now is not an "outbreak" or an "epidemic..." 

It doesn't seem this would be classified as an "epidemic," that seems to be true. It's not an "outbreak," though? It would seem this is an outbreak. But, even if it's not, the president doesn't say then what it IS. What would he call this? What do the experts call it?

"To date, we've seen three cases..."

 Good point. Yes, three cases, only three cases. In under a month. 

"Now, even one infection is too many.  At the same time, we have to keep this in perspective.  As our public health experts point out, every year thousands of Americans die from the flu."

Good point. According to CDC flu kills about 30,000 Americans on average each year http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5933a1.htm, and like Ebola influenza has no cure. Ebola has killed ONE in the U.S. but Ebola just got here. The "government" is as PREPARED for flu season as the state of the art allows it to be, and the government has prepared Americans, who are hyper-aware, hyper-prepared for flu, every drug store reminds us that "It's flu season" and "Get your shots!" The average flu death toll in the United States is as low as it reasonably can be at this stage of medical science.

How many people have died from Ebola worldwide in 2014? More than 4,500 but that is still 1/7th the flu death toll just in the United States. 

What is the mortality rate for the two viruses? Wouldn't that be an important statistic also since Ebola just arrived in the U.S.? According to Wikipedia: 

"The [Ebola] disease has a high risk of death, killing between 25% and 90% of those infected with the virus (average is 50%)." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease.

And influenza's mortality rate in the U.S.? 6.15% according to the same CDC study cited above.

"...Ebola is actually a difficult disease to catch.  It's not transmitted through the air like the flu.  You cannot get it from just riding on a plane or a bus.  The only way that a person can contract the disease is by coming into direct contact with the bodily fluids of somebody who is already showing symptoms."

That's his message and he's sticking to it. That's the CDC's message also and it is close to the World Health Organization's message. This is what has bugged me all throughout this Ebola thing in the U.S.: Then why are you tracking all the airline passengers? All the cruise ship passengers? Unless Amber Vinson joined the "mile-high club" or spit into somebody's mouth on her Dallas-Cleveland round-trip nobody on those flights could have had "direct contact with her bodily fluids." The "government," Barack Obama's government, is speaking one way and acting another. That is why there is so much mistrust, that is why there is "hysteria."

Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address The White House October 18, 2014

The undersigned here provides brief abstract to his own "Remarks," which he's workin' on, on the above "Remarks." As a Doctor of Law I cite to the authority of my esteemed colleague My Cousin Vinnie and say, "Everything that guy just said, it's all bullshit."

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
October 18, 2014

Today, I want to take a few minutes to speak with you-directly and clearly-about Ebola: what we're doing about it, and what you need to know.  Because meeting a public health challenge like this isn't just a job for government.  All of us-citizens, leaders, the media-have a responsibility and a role to play.  This is a serious disease, but we can't give in to hysteria or fear-because that only makes it harder to get people the accurate information they need.  We have to be guided by the science.  We have to remember the basic facts.

First, what we're seeing now is not an "outbreak" or an "epidemic" of Ebola in America.  We're a nation of more than 300 million people.  To date, we've seen three cases of Ebola diagnosed here-the man who contracted the disease in Liberia, came here and sadly died; the two courageous nurses who were infected while they were treating him.  Our thoughts and our prayers are with them, and we're doing everything we can to give them the best care possible.  Now, even one infection is too many.  At the same time, we have to keep this in perspective.  As our public health experts point out, every year thousands of Americans die from the flu.

Second, Ebola is actually a difficult disease to catch.  It's not transmitted through the air like the flu.  You cannot get it from just riding on a plane or a bus.  The only way that a person can contract the disease is by coming into direct contact with the bodily fluids of somebody who is already showing symptoms.  I've met and hugged some of the doctors and nurses who've treated Ebola patients.  I've met with an Ebola patient who recovered, right in the Oval Office.  And I'm fine.

Third, we know how to fight this disease.  We know the protocols.  And we know that when they're followed, they work.  So far, five Americans who got infected with Ebola in West Africa have been brought back to the United States-and all five have been treated safely, without infecting healthcare workers. 

And this week, at my direction, we're stepping up our efforts.  Additional CDC personnel are on the scene in Dallas and Cleveland.  We're working quickly to track and monitor anyone who may have been in close contact with someone showing symptoms.  We're sharing lessons learned so other hospitals don't repeat the mistakes that happened in Dallas.  The CDC's new Ebola rapid response teams will deploy quickly to help hospitals implement the right protocols.  New screening measures are now in place at airports that receive nearly all passengers arriving from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.  And we'll continue to constantly review our measures, and update them as needed, to make sure we're doing everything we can to keep Americans safe.

Finally, we can't just cut ourselves off from West Africa, where this disease is raging.  Our medical experts tell us that the best way to stop this disease is to stop it at its source-before it spreads even wider and becomes even more difficult to contain.  Trying to seal off an entire region of the world-if that were even possible-could actually make the situation worse.  It would make it harder to move health workers and supplies back and forth.  Experience shows that it could also cause people in the affected region to change their travel, to evade screening, and make the disease even harder to track.

So the United States will continue to help lead the global response in West Africa.  Because if we want to protect Americans from Ebola here at home, we have to end it over there.  And as our civilian and military personnel serve in the region, their safety and health will remain a top priority.

As I've said before, fighting this disease will take time.  Before this is over, we may see more isolated cases here in America.  But we know how to wage this fight.  And if we take the steps that are necessary, if we're guided by the science-the facts, not fear-then I am absolutely confident that we can prevent a serious outbreak here in the United States, and we can continue to lead the world in this urgent effort.

Obama says I'm being hysterical. :(

Nina Pham's condition, once "good" is now "fair" after trip to Bethesda.

She's "resting comfortably" though. Don't treat it as non-comprehending sheep. We're familiar with that hospital-speak terminology. "Fair" is not as good as "good." Her condition has deteriorated. 

The Day.

-Gasoline prices are at their lowest levels in four years. In the United States, the fall is partly due to increased energy production, the Marcellus shale natural gas boom.

-The chaplain of the University of Oklahoma tackle football team has been arrested for stealing prescription drugs, Oxycodone and Hydrocodone.

-Posts. Old. Read:
http://publicoccurrenc.blogspot.com/2002/10/importance-of-being-earnest.html,
http://publicoccurrenc.blogspot.com/2004/09/people-who-talk-in-metaphors-can.html

"Ron Klain, Chief of Staff to 2 Vice Presidents, Is Named Ebola Czar."-New York Times.

The American public will not get the truth from Ron Klain. He is a lawyer who has a client, the president; his role as a lawyer with a client is to do whatever is in his client's best interests. He is a political operative; his role as a political operative is to spin the facts. In neither role is his job to report the facts in the public interest. If CDC is wrong about how Ebola is transmitted, Czar Klain will report it--if it is in the president's best interests. If the nurses and hospitals didn't receive proper training in treating Ebola patients we will know that only if it doesn't cast his client the president in a bad political light.

A lawyer with a client has no duty to report facts that are unfavorable to his client. A good lawyer keeps quiet about bad facts. Ron Klain is supposed to be a very good lawyer. To a political operative there are no unfavorable facts, just good facts and not-bad facts, it's all in how you spin them. That's all the American public is going to get from Ebola Czar Ron Klain.

Barack Obama did not want Dr. Thomas Frieden holding any more press conferences. Didn't want his CDC head admitting any more mistakes. Isn't interested in bad facts. Ron Klain will be holding the press conferences now.