Thursday, January 17, 2013

A Cup of Flu, Guns and Conspiracy...oh my...



The flu season is here.

And although the above picture made me laugh out loud...this year's strain is no laughing matter. As of this morning in Indiana 17 kids have died of this flu. These weren't kids that were sickly or with compromised immune systems. These were healthy, robust kids. One of them happened to be the daughter of an acquaintance/former co-worker in Rockville. Healthy and happy and fine one moment. Flu-ish and achy for a day. Extremely high fever and hospitalization the next day...and then gone. Just like that. 

Sometimes I wonder if the same vaccines we create in the attempt to thwart influenza are inadvertently causing the viruses to mutate...become stronger...in order to infect a host...resulting in a Super-Flu much like the indiscriminate/over use of antibiotics has given rise to Super Bacteria.

Frequent hand-washing. Masks. Avoiding crowds. Alcohol gel. And yes, perhaps even vaccination, seems to be the way to go this year.

Stay well.

On an unrelated note...it seems that our National Obsession with firearms (whether pro or con)...has recently given way to our National Obsession with Fallen Celebrities (now known as The Snipping of the Bright Yellow Bracelet Day)...and is vying with headline space for Newton...and a new (and fairly disgusting) Conspiracy Theory. 

Seriously, people?

Face it. President Obama was in a "...damned if you do...damned if you don't..." position to begin with.

If he has done nothing "THEY" would have screamed

 "Look at that...20 little children dead and he doesn't CARE."

Because he did act "THEY" are screaming  

"See...we told you...he is coming for your guns!". 

I am glad that he is attempting to do something.
No, it isn't the perfect plan. No, it won't drop the crime rate to zero...ever. But if it keeps one theater...one crowded school or auditorium...from turning into a massacre, I will consider it successful. I have a hard time understanding why anyone outside of our military would ever need/use a weapon that fires 30 or more rounds in 27 seconds. One of the Sandy Hook second graders was shot 11 times. Eleven rounds in ONE child probably less than 3 and 1/2 feet tall. Take a minute and imagine THAT being your son or daughter or grandchild. Then ask yourself- if it was...wouldn't you expect/demand that something CHANGE.

And because we do have the "attention span of high speed dryer-lint" (Thank you, Will Durst) in only days the National Discussion this week turned from Guns to Celebrities That Let Us Down (and the people who loved them- but now hate their guts) as Lance Armstrong revealed that he had been "doping" all along...right there on Oprah...Mon Dieu!  Is nothing sacred? So everybody...in an attempt to show him...or show disgust...or just follow the herd (pretty much the same thing they did when they started wearing the things) cast off their LiveStrong Bracelets in a flurry of great snips...because...by gosh it was never about the good that LiveStrong has done or the hope it has given so many cancer patients...it is about the connection to a now disgraced celebrity who must be treated like a leper.  Let's get our priorities straight. 
 ~sigh~

And lastly...and probably the most distressing...the rise of the Newton Conspiracy Theories.
 Seriously people, WTH?

And we've all heard them. The whole thing was a HOAX. The children were never killed. The Government staged the entire thing. It was a show and Emily's father was a paid actor. They did it just to get our guns. The guy that took the children in down the road was an actor/paid by the government/pedophile- choose one.

OMFG...

People...there are a lot of Conspiracy Theories floating around in our Nation.
Most of them are harmless enough. Nobody gets hurt. Maybe your friends roll their eyes at dinner...but they don't devastate people whose world has already been destroyed before their eyes.

Do you believe that THEY are hiding something out there in Area 52?   Fine.

Do you believe that we REALLY didn't land on the Moon?   Harmless enough.

Do you think the JFK Assassination was part of a much larger cover-up?  Why not?

Do you believe that Madonna REALLY has talent?   Sad...but still hurts no one but yourself. And maybe others you inflict her on.



But when you start attacking parents that have just buried the bullet-riddled bodies of their six and 7 year old children. Or harassing first responders or people who were just trying to help, through an inconceivable massacre...then you are WORSE than the person who pulled the trigger, in my opinion.

If you can't find a way to help out...at least have the decency to shut up.

Yeah...yeah...I know...breathe. 

The book this week: This Living Hand by biographer Edmund Morris. Best known for his biographies of Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. A 2012 Random house release- it is a series of essays. Although it had its moments, for the most part it was verbose and hard to read. Often found rambling rather disjointedly. This was a book in search of a decent editing.
Not recommended.

And a bright spot of news as Sir Elton John and David Furnish-John are parents again...to another bouncing baby boy Elijah Joseph Daniel Furnish-John born in California on January 11th, 2013.

                                     ...yep...they're parents alright...