Waiting for the Killers!!!!!

 

Shot fired

Chris Sanders of TEP alerts us to the re-opening of a front in the culture war.  Sen. Stanley (R – Memphis) has reintroduced his bill outlawing adoption by cohabitating couples living outside of marriage.  Clearly, this is an anti-gay measure he’s trying to dress up in pro-family clothes – that don’t fit.

He starts his bill with the following declaration:

The public policy of this state is to favor marriage, as defined by the constitution and laws of this state, over unmarried sexual cohabitation. It is also the public policy of this state to place children into adoptive families that provide the most stable familial relationships for that child and will foster an appreciation for the policies of this state that favor marriage over unmarried cohabitation. The general assembly specifically finds that it is not in a child’s best interest to be adopted by a person who is cohabitating in a sexual relationship that is not a legally valid and binding marriage under the constitution and laws of this state.

So, let’s review.  The State wants children to be adopted into stable families.  Here are some possible arrangements:

1. straight, married couple
2. straight, unmarried couple
3. straight, unmarried single person
4. gay, unmarried couple
5. gay, unmarried single person

Under Sen. Stanley’s bill, 1, 3 and 5 could still adopt.  I’m not sure if he has noticed, but 3 and 5 aren’t families that involve married couples.  Apparently, Sen. Stanley believes it is better to be adopted by someone who is single than someone who is in a relationship.  And, it’s better for a child to be left in indefinite foster care, often punctuated by frequent moves, than to be placed in a home without a marriage license.

Also, as Aunt B ably points out, this sentence is more than a little creepy:

It is also the public policy of this state to place children into adoptive families that . . . will foster an appreciation for the policies of this state . . ..

Sen. Stanley wants families that are goverrnment approved and families that approve of government.

Note:  The opinions expressed herein are strictly my own and do not in anyway reflect the opinions of my employer.

 

Peanut butter and deli

Being hungry and wanting a snack, I wandered into the kitchen.  I had negligently allowed the cupboard to lag.  But, my salvation was in two ingredients I enjoy separately.  Would they work together?  I am here to recommend peanut butter and turkey.

I always have the deli at Harris Teeter slice my lunch turkey pretty thick.  That made it pretty easy to swipe a bit of pb on the meat without the bird falling apart.

Maybe I should open a chain of sandwich shops with different varieties of peanut butter used in place of mayonaise or mustard.  Mmmmmm.  Or not.

 

99 bottles of beer on the ground, or There Ought to Be a Law!!!

My city councilwoman, Erica Gilmore, supported by uber-lefty blogger S-Town Mike, has decided that the ol’ shotgun to the gnat approach is what’s called for in dealing with vagrancy and littering.  Mike (not Michael) doesn’t like that folks buy single beers at the market at 7th and Garfield, drink them on or near the premises and fail to dispose of the containers properly.

In order to solve this very localized problem, Ms. Gilmore and Mike have proposed an ordinance that would make it illegal “[t]o sell beer and malt beverages in quantities of less than seventy (70) ounces per bottle or a factory-packaged six-pack on any premises within the downtown interstate loop . . ..”

The supposed goal of this ill advised ordinance is to cut down on litter and public drunkenness.  It is very unlikely to work.  As more thoroughly discussed by economist and Salemtown resident Mike Hammock, it is likely to have the opposite effect.  Instead of buying a single “40″, people who drink on the street will now be forced to buy a six-pack.  That’s more alcohol and more litter.

The reasons to oppose this ordinance can be summarized as follows:

1. It won’t decrease public drunkenness as it will cause more alcohol to be purchased at any one time.

2. It won’t decrease litter as it will cause purchases that involved one bottle/can and one paper bag to now involve 6 cans/bottles, their container (either plastic rings or the card board holder) and a bag;

3. If it were to decrease the sale of alcohol, it would have a negative impact on local businesses and the people who depend on them in order to feed their families.

4. This ordinance attempts to deal with a problem but punishes the wrong people – law abiding citizens who want a single container won’t be able to get it and businesses could lose out (see 3 above)

5. The ordinance is over broad in that it also prohibits licensed beer sellers from selling beer from ice tubs, even though no justification of this has been provided and it is unlikely to have any impact on the supposed problems;

6. If the ordinance were to pass in its present form, it would stay on the books until repealed, an unlikely event.  It should include a sunset provision that would require renewal in one year.  If it works, it can be renewed; if not, an unnecessary government regulation goes off the books.

7. To the extent there needs to be a government solution to these problems, Nashville should provide trash cans for the litter and arrest the problematic drunks.  Don’t punish everyone because of the actions of the few.

From Google Maps, here is the corner that justifies the single container ban in a large but select part of the city. I called this problem very local because I live 1.1 miles from this location and from Mike and don’t see any of the problems S-Town Mike thinks will be solved by this ordinance.

Market at 7th & Garfield

 

2008 – the year

One year ago at this time, I way lying in a bed in Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital.  My mother, who had returned to Nashville to stay with me on Christmas Eve, the very day I had been moved to that facility, had returned to her home in  Leawood, Kansas.  I did not have a roommate.  The room was quite.  But, I certainly wasn’t down.

Physically, I had improved from my condition as it had been back on October 7th when I had been helped into Vanderbilt Hospital’s ER.  By this point, I had been off the ventilator for a little over two weeks.  I could move my right arm almost 90 degrees and could move my left hand at the wrist.  I could flex the muscles in my legs and could feel quite a bit of pain in them.  That night, I  watched Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper on the television in my hospital room.  The traffic outside my window on Blakemore made me feel  both connected to and separated from the rest of the world.

When the new year dawned, my caregivers expected that I would be discharged in about five weeks to a nursing home and in a motorized wheelchair.  After a slow start, improvement to my physical condition began to came rapidly.*  I made it clear to my physical and occupational therapists that I wanted to stay at Stallworth as long as possible.  I wanted to  get all the good out of it I could get.  Also, even the nurses were telling me horror stories about nursing homes.  After nine and a half weeks there, I went home.  I went home, not to a nursing home.  And, I did so using a walker instead of a wheelchair.  That was February 27th.  Two days later I was back in the Vanderbilt ER passing kidney stones.

For the next month, I hung out at the house.  My roommate was granted the task of putting my shoes and socks on me each morning.  On a spur of the moment decision exactly one month after I  got out, I traded cars.  The one I got was the model I had test driven almost a year earlier.  At the time, I couldn’t even drive myself.

A few weeks later, on April 17th, I returned to work.  The days were abbrevited at first, but got longer and eventually returned to a normal routine.  Around that time, my mother’s eldest sister died.  Her passing led to my first out of town trip.  I went to Kansas City and attended her funeral, walking with the aid of a cane.  May saw my next birthday.  At the end of the month, I returned to K.C. for my mother’s 75th birthday, this time walking with out aid, but not quite normally.

In June, I took two trips to Washington, D.C.  The second one coincided with their Pride.  At that event I surprised my self by getting up from a grassy spot where I’d had lunch without holding on to anything.  I was pretty jazzed about that.  Also, watching a drag show with the capital building in the immediate background was pretty cool.  And I don’t even like drag show.  Later in June I made my first ever trip to San Diego.  All these trips were for work.  By the end of the month, I was ready to stay home for a bit.

July and August were thankfully routine.  Around July’s midpoint, I made a few trips to the gym.  It was awkward at first and I felt a little self conscious.  But it felt good to be able to do most of the things I had done in the past.  In August I ended physical therapy.  I had been doing PT and OT twice each week at Stallworth as outpatient.  OT continued.  At the end of August, I made another trip to K.C.

In September, I made that trip to Lake Tahoe that I’ve already discussed.  I certainly was glad to be home after that.  At the beginning of October, I revived my annual Themeless Party, cohosted by my good friend Eric.  Attendance was 40 or 45 and everyone said they had a great time.  I’m usually kind of stressed when I host an event like that.  This time, I really enjoyed it.  Eric catered.  If party food is a competition, Eric’s wins.  Easily.  (After he finishes culinary school, he has a bright future in pretty much whatever he wants to do.)

On Tuesday, October 7, I attended my last OT session.  They told me that it was my 52nd visit and insurance would only pay for 45.  Of course, I immediately requested assurance that I would not have to pay for the extra sessions.  I didn’t have to.  That night, I took Eric, his partner, my roommate and another friend (the one who had driven me around for weeks and done numerous other favors for me) out to dinner.  I had planned on taking them to Lime.  But, when we got there, they wouldn’t let us in because one of the group was wearing a hat.  Instead we went around the corner to Mellow Mushroom and had a fun, casual time.

The last couple of months have been fairly well chronicled on the blog.  About the only big thing missing is my final trip of the year, again to Kansas City.  I’ve decided to travel to K.C. 3 times per year to  visit and keep an eye on my mother.   She  has asked that I keep Thanksgiving on the schedule.  That means I’ll try to go back in March in again in July.  I’m hoping to take a group of friends  back to K.C. with me in March.  My mother met my friends while she was here and had a wonderful time with them.  I cannot thank them enough for treating her with such respect and kindness.  It made a difference.  She has even invited one of the couples to her home and has said that they could stay together in the guest bedroom.  All things considered, that’s an amazing level of acceptance.

Now the year is over.  I’ll spend tonight at a party or two enjoying the company of so many people who are important to me.  2009 will be a great year.  I’ve decided it will be.  In the next couple of months, I hope to have at least two things to share that should steer my life in a little bit different direction.  Nothing to major.

To  you and yours, I bid a Happy New Year’s!  Have fun tonight and be safe.

*I credit my next door neighbor Nelly with my dramatic physical improvement.  Nelly obtained her Ph.D from Vanderbilt almost 2 years ago and is a researcher in periphal neuropathy.  He commented that, in the lab, they had observed that nerve tissue grew very slowly in the petre dish – until vitamin C was introduced.  Then, growth took off.  Nelly and her boyfriend provided me with a bottle of vitamin C tablets for me to take everyday.  Shortly thereafter, my  condition starting getting remarkably better.  I still take vitamin C everyday.

 

Gun bleg

As promised, here are pictures of a gun I inherited from my father years ago.  The information I have about it is limited.  If you can suggest how I can learn more, I’d appreciate it.  My understanding is that my uncle obtained it during WWII in Germany.  I believe it is known as a drilling.  The two top barrels are rifle barrels and the bottom one is a shotgun barrel.  Caliber and gauge are unknown.  Although there is a design on the side, there are no numbers or letters anywhere on it.  Help!

Update:  At the suggestion of Gun Blobber, I ran home and measured the bores.  The rife barrels measure almost exactly 1/2 inch across and the shotgun barrel measures just under 3/4 inch across.  Measurements done with a standard tape measure.

2nd update: It does have some rust spots on it.  If anyone could recommend a gunsmith in the Nashville area to get it  cleaned up, I’d be much obliged.

(Click to embiggen.)

 

Silly Saturday?

Since I missed Feel Good Friday (Kat Coble had a great choice for that), how ’bout Silly Saturday.  Behold, The Kangaroo Song:

 

Battle of the bracelets! Smackdown! (or not)

Watched the debate to night as the only McCain supporter in a room of 8 gay and 2 straight Obama supporters.  Everybody was bored about an hour into it.  We all agreed that the candidates positions didn’t seem all that different.  The Obama supporters agreed that he did as well or worse than they expected.   I thought McCain did better than I expected.  He never mentioned the effort of Republicans in 2003 to reform Fannie and Freddie that the Democrats blocked.  That would have been a point scored.

The low point was the battle of the bracelets.  We all wanted Tim Gunn to appear and say “Make it work!”

Following the debate,  we had a civil discussion about political positions and different views of the world.  It was surprisingly pleasant.

Winner?  Neither candidate won and neither lost.  I’d call it a draw.

 

South Carolina – backwater of bigotry?

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford believes it would cost to much political capital to remove the flag of a country that no longer exists, was defeated in its only war and was created largely for the purpose of preserving human slavery from the grounds of the state capitol:

Gov. Mark Sanford said Tuesday that a new push by the NAACP to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of South Carolina’s Statehouse won’t be a priority during his final years in office.

But, dammit !!! Somebody invited teh gays!!  South Carolina is terrified that that the state might increase tourism and receipt of tourist dollars from homosexuals.  That must be stopped.

A state employee has resigned and officials have disavowed an international advertising campaign that led to calls for an investigation of tourism posters proclaiming “South Carolina is so gay.”

Mind you, similar ads were posted for Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Washington, D.C., but none of those places reported any backlash from the ads.

Which makes less sense, refusing to promote your state as a vacation destination to a demographic with above average disposable income or publicly maintaining symbols that your state went to war so its citizens could retain their right to own other human beings?

 

Beak’em Hawks!!!!

Being the major sports fan that I am (or . . . whatever) I was glued, GLUED !!! to the television last night for at least the last 7 minutes of the big game. I’m certain that my support at that crucial time helped the boys at my undergraduate alma mater go on to glory on the hardwood.

A “side of Jayhawk“???!!! I don’t think so Governor.

Best dumb comment of by a sportscaster of the last 7 minutes: One of them asserted that Kansas knew about playing in overtime because of the 1957 championship game (a triple overtime loss to the Tarheels).  I’m pretty sure no one with the program 51 years ago is still there.