Nilknarf News

I still like the way that sounds, "Laws based on moral issues will inevitably fail in a free society, for when they succeed, that society is no longer free. "

It seem that, since 9/11, our freedoms are much more tenuous than ever before. Our constitutional laws have pretty much, up until now, kept the majority from crushing the minority, with some glaring exceptions.

The catch is... the majority have to support the constitution in order for it to be effective. In other words, it the majority sees that there might be some advantage to it by not supporting the constitution, the freedom that we have will fail.

The erstwhile "Moral Majority" failed, because what they wanted to do was so heinous that they were seen for what they were, and they weren't a majority any more.

What I am woried about is that the jackass who is now president may be percieved as being a great leader by the majority. And he will lead us down an unconstitutional path, I know this. He knows this, and most of his smarter supporters know this.

And, as a great showman once said, nobody has ever gone broke underestimating the intelligence of the American Public.

I'm just sayin'... I'm worried about these United States.

On a less global scale... I have been having second thoughts about my knee surgery... after all, it hasn't been hurting for the last coupla weeks, why mess with something when it ain't broke? Well, today it hurts, so I'm OK with the surgery.

Using the word "SURGERY" is probably going a little overboard, at least with the way most people feel about the word. What is going to happen is that they will put me to sleep and do an arthroscopy on my knee... in other words, he'll look around within the joint. If he sees something that needs fixing, he'll fix it. What he'll most likely fix will be pieces of cartilege floating around in the joint, and he'll fix those by removing them. He will also trim up pieces that are partly torn; he'll also look at the meniscii and tendons and other stuff that's in there, 'most everything can be fixed via the arthroscope. They have little pinchers and plyers and pryers and chisels and things that they work with.

So, my knee will get fixed and they'll sew up the three little holes they used to do the arthroscopy (one for the light, one for pumping fluid into the joint and one for the arthroscope with the instruments) and then they'll wake me up and send me home. I should be able to resume normal activities immediately, or at the most within a coupla days.

So, about 10:00 today I get a call from the doc's office, the guy who I'll be seeing tomorrow. Workman's comp is not gonna pay for the surgery. They have a 200-day limit (the injury was in November 1998), even though both of the docs told me it might not bother me for years if I was careful. So it's gonna go on my regular insurance. I'm not gonna let it bother me, 'cause it'll all be paid, but I'm sure that my insurance companies will feel differently about it. I'll let them argue with the bloodsuckers at the hospital.

On the other hand, I am kinda pissed off. The workmans' comp people shoulda let me know about that, doncha think? I need to make sure that both insurance companies know the story here.

I'm gonna work tomorrow until 11:00, but I have to be NPO from midnight on, that's gonna be the hard part. NPO means nothing by mouth... I can take my pills, but that's all.

Speaking of pills... fatigue is described as a possible side effect for all of my BP medication. Heh. Didn't I already guess that?

Fatigue is a side effect of living, I believe.

You know all that weight that you lose when you die? That's all water weight, you'll get it right back just as soon as you're resurrected. Just a note for the weight-conscious folks out there. Reincarnation works a little differently... you come back as a beautiful, perfect butterfly and exist that way for about 30 seconds and a bird eats you.

I am looking forward to being off for the next week with Karen. We'll have to stick around here until Tuesday, when I get my dental work done, but after that we're going to go to Wichita and probably Enid and maybe spend a coupla days on Grand Lake...