Saturday, June 22, 2013

DEMENTIA

DEMENTIA. Very sad with my brother. What can I say? There's been so much written about one's slide into Dementia/Alzheimers, whatever we choose to call it, not sure there's anything left to say. I don't know how to express it. We kind of know what happens, we just don't know exactly what to do about it. My brother had been a very successful businessman to now be reduced to total dependence. In many ways, the sadness is left for his children who have to clean up the mess he left behind, the result of very bad decisions. For him, he is enjoying himself basically in who he is presently. He has a full time caregiver and responds to very simple things. He is fine. His family's dealing with the real world, of course.

One way to look at it in a sense is to be angry at his f..k ups that bring us to this point. Let's tell his story with just one FU. My brother had been a bachelor for years, having escaped a "controlling witch". He had retired, bought a nice little cottage on a golf course, did a little work with our older brother on his peach farm. He met a woman and married her, against our unsolicited advice after we met her. To say we failed To connect would be quite the understatement. We had gone to visit. The brothers were very close. She resented our questions by telling us that it was none of our business. To be honest we were more or less joking, certainly not serious. This incensed our older brother who said, "I don't think you understand but we will knock our brother in the head, throw him in the trunk of the car and you'll never see him again." We weren't exactly kidding. My brother married her. She wasn't all that bad, we allowed. They were traveling, bought a new house. Things seemed to be proving us wrong. Eight months into the marriage, she had a massive brain aneurism. In the process of her near death, a baffling practical discovery surfaced. She had lied about her age. She was ten years older that she had led my brother to believe. Immediately, the ramifications surfaced. When you are 65 or seventy, in our medical world, age means one thing but when you are 80, it is something else entirely. As my brother dealt with the discovery, she had another aneurism. She survives but becomes an invalid. As a joke but maybe an example, my older brother says, "You couldn't kill her with an ax." And, in general, we take our Dad's mantra: you might as well laugh as cry. 10-15 years down the road, here we are. She is in a nursing home. My brother lives now, thankfully, with another brother. Is there something to take out of this tale of woe? A couple of things: (1) Get your act together while you can. Don't leave a mess for your relatives to clean up. (2) figure out, assuming the above is taken care of, how you'd like to live out the last few years of your life.


Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Afghanistan

Stupidity seems to take over when you get to high levels of the government or the military, which is usually one and the same. These high level generals are politicians themselves, they give rosy reports about Afghanistan which is mainly BS, laced with a healthy amount of stupidity.

We ar p..sing in the wind, Afghanistan is simply out of here. Come on, millions and millions of dollars and in a sense all we have to show for it are the lost lives of some of America's finest. As soon as we leave, here comes the Taliban. Wake up and smell the roses. Think Vietnam. We worked out a peace agreement with North Vietnam and they owned the country before we could whistle Dixie. (this is an aside. I love NPR but sometimes wonder where the f..k they get some of these people: some government weenie or "think tank" imbecile thinking he knows s..t.) What about this don't we get. F..kkkkkk

WOMEN IN COMBAT

General Dempsey says "let's get women into combat positions to help with sexual harassment/assault." Men are sorry MFers let's face it but combat and death is no respecter of persons. Facing an enemy who could could give a s..t less about gender, we want the best soldier. And, 'political correctness' needs to take a backseat to potential death in combat. Combat is no 'day at the beach' and the military is not a 'social experiment.' Dempsey is merely another politician who wears general stars and a chess full of 'atta boys.'

Friday, June 14, 2013

LEARNING FROM HISTORY

SYRIA. Why the hell should any person who thinks, trust the government's view of why to go to war. Vietnam. Gulf of Tonkin. Bullshit. Iraq. Weapons of mass destruction. Out and out lie. Now Syria. Using chemical weapon. The flimsiest of evidence. 900,000 thousand Syrians dead. 150 (while any death is unacceptable) killed supposedly by "sarin" gas.

I know history, especially Vietnam and how we saw our involvement expand through dictators, inept military policy, and a host of other stupid mistakes. Syria is worse. The Mideast is a f..king mess anyway you look at it. Sad as it is, we will only get deeper into a morass we can't affect. And, nothing we see indicates that any country in that volatile part of the world can be democratic as we know it. We only make it worse I think. Stay the hell out of Syria.

SYRIA

Supplying the rebels with arms. I just don’t know. I know history, especially how we saw it expand, expand through f..king dictators, inept military policy, and a host of other stupid mistakes, in Vietnam. Syria is worse. The Mideast is a f..king mess anyway you look at it. Sad as it is, we will only get deeper into a morass we can't affect. And, nothing we see indicates that any country in that volatile part of the world can be democratic as we know it is. We only make it worse I think. I’ve convinced myself. Stay the hell out of Syria.


Monday, June 10, 2013

SPYING ON "Mericans."

This whole thing about gathering info from citizens is ticking us off! WHO? Well, for one thing, a group of 8 Vietnam vets (the ultimate in patriotism, right wing Republicans even). We took a poll. Eight guys. Seven said this spying with emails, texts, phone calls is a "noway Jose." Give me a break! This is not the American way. The main thing, here is a guy, only working for them three months, a contractor, blows the whistle. First of all, who the f..k gave this guy permission to spy on American citizens. This whole thing is way out of control. Nobody gets their arsh kicked for letting him have assess to gathering private citizen's telephone data. Same thing with Wikileaks hero, Bradley Manning. Nobody owns up for letting a "Private" have assess to all this supposedly classified material. A private! What the f..k? In military parlance, a "private" is, symbolically, lower than whale manure; in the military, a "Private" has to get permission to even breathe. It really is a classic example of shooting the clumsy messenger. What if they are checking out texts of me telling NSA to f..k off. As I've said before, they can just kiss my arsh.



Saturday, June 08, 2013

NSA

If you haven't done anything or have nothing to hide, who gives a f..k about the invasion of privacy with the NSA looking at everything. The flip side of the coin is that I don't like it. The NSA and all these Intell agencies justify their existence constantly and go for the overkill. Consequently, you f..kers tapping into my blog post, kiss my ass. When I was in the Army, the Intell people investigated me for having an out of date, by several years, troop list (where they were). It was my job to keep up with them. What a waste of time. Then when I was in Korea, the Intell types got all excited when I mentioned this spy plane flying over us. Everybody knew it and yet I had the audacity to mention it. And, the Intell types dilute their effectiveness by classifying things that don't need to be classified. We need a real look at all this Intell bullshit. Let's get real here.



NSA

If you haven't done anything or have nothing to hide, who gives a f..k about the invasion of privacy with the NSA looking at everything. The flip side of the coin is that I don't like it. The NSA and all these Intell agencies justify their existence constantly and go for the overkill. Consequently, you f..kers tapping into my blog post, kiss my ass. When I was in the Army, the Intell people investigated me for having an out of date, by several years, troop list (where they were). It was my job to keep up with them. What a waste of time. Then when I was in Korea, the Intell types got all excited when I mentioned this spy plane flying over us. Everybody knew it and yet I had the audacity to mention it. And, the Intell types dilute their effectiveness by classifying things that don't need to be classified. We need a real look at all this Intell bullshit. Let's get real here.



HE LIED

I tried to answer them, sitting on the beach, halfway around the world, at the edge of the South China Sea. "Let me tell you something...America has a resurgence of old fashioned patriotism that we have not seen since WWll. You are not fighting in an out of town ball game in a dark stadium on a rainy night with empty grandstands. We are with you. Your country is solidly with you."

When he comes home, he will find out I lied to him. But, by then, perhaps it won't hurt so much.
Gordon Baxter
1967




Wednesday, June 05, 2013

PROSTATE AWARENESS DAY

Today, I heard Michael Milken promoting Prostate Awareness Day. He was the junk bond king with insider trading thrown in on the side. $600 million fine. 10 years in prison.

Got prostate cancer and was given the standard 6-18 months to live and that was 15 years ago. His rehab has been the prostate cancer cause. Good for him.

THE SCIENCE OF AGING

I keep thinking about your question about a plan for aging. I think some of it involves a plan for staying involved in the modern hworld...I have too many friends who seem to me to be embracing old age as an excuse to no longer make an effort. Which is their choice but not mine. My goal is to stay interested and involved forever. How exactly to do that I'm not sure...but I am working on it.
Great to see you. Have not yet seen Carolyn for a run-down on the reunion...tomorrow...

Sent from my iPhone
Sylvia Attkisson