Book Recommendation

Eaarth by Bill McKibben

Really interesting book.

Read it on my Kindle that I got for Christmas.

If my Leaverton/Stembridge Book club was going, I'd pick it for the next. Hint. Hint.

Sign now before it is too late

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Mom's Trip to the ER

Mom had muscle pains in the muscles attached to the top of her rib cage and collar bones. They were sharp piercing pains which were worse when she breathed in and out. They could be controlled by pain killers and moving slower. She’d been moving boxes from one storage stall to the other for the past two days and she’s more than a little stressed. They persisted for a few days so she was worried. Finally, she called the 800 Nurse on the back of her insurance card and asked what to do.
She heard: ‘chest pains’ out of that whole description, but she said it didn’t sound like a heart attack. However if someone has chest pains you send them to the hospital period, end of story. If you don’t and it is a heart attack, then you get sued big time. “Just in case,” she told Mom.
So we went down to the emergency room in Auburn.
In triage they heard ‘chest pains’ and also ‘good insurance’ but still we waited for 1.5 hours to get in to see a doctor. There was a long line, you see, and lots of ambulances coming and going which you couldn’t see from where we were.
The doctor said, “It doesn’t sound like anything more than pulled muscles, all the evidence suggests I should just give you pain medications and send you home, but this is the emergency room and here we must handle ‘chest pains’ by thoroughly checking that it is not your heart. So I will give you a blood test, an electrocardiogram, and a CT Scan before I release you.”
So we read our books for an hour then they came by and took her for one of the above. He came back and said “All clear on that one. Here have some morphine for the pain.”
So we read our books for an hour then they came by and took her for another one of the above. He came back and said “All clear on that one.”
So we read our books for an hour then they came by and took her for the last one of the above. He came back and said “All clear on that one. You can go home.”
It was now 2:15 am in the morning. We’d arrived at 6:45pm.
The next day Mom went to her primary care doctor who said, “Yep, muscle pain and stress. FYI that machine of yours you are walking around in has been running for over 60 years—go easy on it. No lifting. That’s what young people are for.”
Memo to Dr. Turner from this machine I’m walking around in: “Thanks a lot! Ouch!”
So let’s look back on this experience…they say:

Single payer will mean long lines

• long lines now, check

Single Payer will mean tons of bureaucracy

• Triage—scanned insurance card
• Second Triage—signed some papers
• While lying in room—paid $75 co-pay for emergency room visits
• Tons of just-in-case policy-says tests—there until 2:30am
• Need I say more?

Government will mess it up

• Someone with chest pains waits for 1.5 hours to be seen, I think we’re doing a fine job of messing it up already.

Ms. Leaverton goes to 915 2nd Ave. Rm 2988 Seattle

These Organizing for America emails I’ve been getting lately really sort of pull you into the notion that you matter in this whole thing, don’t they? I’m just one person…just one voter…but if I call my senator or send her an email or post to her Facebook page or visit her office, I could make a difference in how she votes. What are my odds, huh? Sort of like playing the lottery…accept there’s some skill and effort involved. What skill? Well, I think to be heard you’d better have something unique to say and be able to say it with style. Then add a little luck…that what you wrote or said has enough style to catch the eye or appeal to one of her staff. That staff person might then have the power to bring it to the attention of another staff person a little closer to Her Senatorialness who can show it to her. And if what you said has true impact and sound-byte quality perhaps she might remember it…use it in a speech if it jives with how she wants to vote. If it doesn’t jive, well it won’t make it past the first staff person, let alone influence her vote.
These are the things you tell yourself when you get those emails. It’s the way you justify sweeping it into your trash folder. But sooner or later, they’ll get to you. You see, we all want to believe that our opinion matters. So if someone keeps telling us it does enough times…we might be tempted to go forth and take some sort of action—as I did when the Chief (hale to him) asked me (and a million others) to visit my Senator’s office.
I had one more road block to overcome…that being the classic “Who has the time to go all the way over to their senator’s office?” especially in Seattle, where going anywhere is a chore, I mean…how dare they ask me to take some of my valuable time and go…how far? I don’t know. Better google it…um…let’s see, a click here and a link there and…TWO WHOLE BLOCKS! So much for that road block. *grumble grumble* All right, all right all ready! I’ll go. So today, on my way to get my mail from the UPS store, I detoured to the office of Senator Patty Murray.
There’s a metal detector you’ve got to go through…yep…show some ID. Then you gotta ride the world’s fastest elevator (be sure to pop your ears) up to the 29th floor (not quite the highest room in the tallest tower but still)! And then there you are, facing two lovely receptionists…who have by this time collected quite a stack of fliers Organizing for America asked you to fill out and bring with you. With a little prompting & some friendly banter, you can get them to tell you all about the other yahoos that Organizing for America sent in. They’ll even show you the stack of fliers. Some people signed up on the website thinking that they would get a meeting with the Senator…walked right in and announced “I have an appointment.” Some expected to meet with a staff person! At this, I had to ask the young lady who she thought she was if not a staff person of Senator Murray? She smiled and said the others wanted to talk to a Senatorial Staff Person (with a capital SS&P). I told her that once again, I was pretty sure she counted for that too.
I then asked the question that all probably do at some point, “Does it matter more that I showed up at the office with this flier filled out and handed it in in-person than if I say…mailed it or called it or emailed it in?”
She smiled again and replied, “Oh yes, I’ll tell Senator Murray that every one of these fliers was brought in. She’ll enjoy reading them.”
See? I knew I was talking to the right person. Who wants to talk to some inflated ego SSP? They’d bungle the job no doubt, they have no paper skills and they’re busy writing clever speeches on their High-Powered Laptops anyhow. It’s the front desk lady you want. She’s the master of paper…and she’s the one the Senator smiles and greets every single morning she’s in town because she’s the only guaranteed one to have a desk that the Senator has to walk by to get to her own. She’s the gatekeeper for the masses. Diss on her to your own detriment—this woman is the true conduit to power for the little people. She’s really nice to you too, if you are really nice to her. I even found out that her mom’s an engineer too.