At the polls.

Why do our court justices not see the fact that an ID is required to function in this society today….but accept the lie that the requirement of an ID to vote is somehow a burden?

HERE

No more “professional qualified immunity”.

Especially in cases like THIS. At last the courts are putting limits on behavior….

By the CDC:

Deputy who had contact with Dallas”Patient Zero” hospitalized with possible Ebola symptoms

Now, this is likely a false alarm. Then again, WHY WASN”T THE CDC paying attention to ANYONE who was in contact with patient zero–Mr Duncan (who, BTW, died earlier Wed AM). I mean, monitoring several times a day for fever and other symptoms….Why did he go to a “quick care” facility instead of a hospital? (And why, when he visited the partement of Duncan, wasn’t he given at least a mask and gloves?).

Again, this MIGHT (probably is) a false alarm. But again, this illustrates the casualness that the CDC and the Texas and Dallas Health departments are treating this.

(and BTW, despite the “best care in the world” Mr Duncan died….Think about that).

Seriously, if I were in the Dallas area, I’d be gettin worried about now. The whole handling of this entire incident seems like an opening storyline from a book like “The Stand” or a movie like “Outbreak“. (or How to Enable a Pandemic in 6 Easy Steps…)

But,as Tam points out, at this point the odds of you or I contracting Ebola are fairly small… But the more I learn about the response by the CDC (and others who SHOULD know better) the higher I think those chances get.

The Gray Man: Payback

An excellent story. A page turner. I was hard pressed to put the copy I had down (I was a beta reader for him as he is my friend).

If you haven’t read Vingettes, then you need to read that first.

This is a continuation of the story….and one that ends badly for those who screw with the family and friends of John Cronin. The details are there, of both rifle shooting and pistol shooting. The character development is excellent, and, for a while, you live his story.

I’d hate to be his enemy…

Read ’em both. You won’t be disappointed.

I am waiting for volume 3…..

Think a good thought for my brother. He has to do the right thing for an friend of 17 years today…..

He’s hurtin’.

Thanks

Except that I have my priorities totally screwed up, and I did the adult thing and did pre-winter chores all weekend.

So total rounds downrange—zero.

I am feeling the lack.

So if the CDC (that is, the Centers for Disease Control) can totally drop the ball on a single case of open border foolishness ebola,  then perhaps we need a shakeup of their management….and perhaps a redefinition of their primary responsibility….maybe they oughta stop telling us about our (un)healthy lifestyles global warming and such and concentrate on, you know, DISEASE…since they apparently have forgotten their primary mission….See, I am not much for government agencies, and think most of our Federal government should be disbanded….but the CDC might just be one of the agencies that have merit….if they’d do their job.

Their response was, well, let us be kind and say it was suboptimal. I’m not a doctor (although I have played one, but that is another post) and I can easily see that they basically fucked up by the numbers. Both the CDC and Dallas and Texas Health departments. Yeah, once they got rolling and the news media got to reporting it, the authorities began (or maybe it simply took that long to get rolling) to act, but their response wasn’t timely at all….Thing is, we don’t have the ability to deal with this disease if and when it gains a foothold here. Yes, we have great healthcare. I got that. But not for something like this. We have neither the people nor the facilities with which to deal with a major epidemic….

Which is why our borders are our only real protection, and why failing to properly screen or quarantine people entering from ebola affected areas is so important and must be fixed.

(part of me wonders how many cases there have been in European countries which we haven’t heard about? If one could get here, it is just as easy, actually easier, to get to Europe, as most routes go from Africa to Europe to the US….)

Seriously…if this case in Dallas does not demonstrate WHY we need better Customs and Border Controls, then nothing will.

This one case may well spread to others….It may be contained, it may not. We shall know more in another 20+ days…if it is contained, then we, as a nation, will be lucky. If not, well, we shall see how bad it gets. Patient Zero (Dallas) may well have infected others on his route from Liberia through Brussels through Dulles, and then to Dallas…..Lots of people who had contact with him when he may or may not have been contagious. And contact with the airplane and airport furniture after he had been there and maybe contaminated those surfaces…… and if he is dying and in critical condition on 10/1 then he was sick enough to be contagious on the 9/22.

And if we end up with 20 cases, or a hundred, WE REALLY DON’T HAVE THE FACILITIES TO DEAL WITH THAT MANY PATIENTS .

Maybe we were lucky this time. Maybe. But keeping such people out of our country is the only way to prevent a worse “Next time”.

Everything is fine……The government has said so…

There, don’t you feel better?

If you don’t have preps…facemasks, gloves, faceshields, something to cover your exterior and to sterilize surfaces and hands with, then you might want to perhaps plan, SOON, on finding some….’cause your government is doing dick-all to keep you safe. I’m not saying that the time to panic is here, but if there is a second or third patient with ebola, you won’t find anything to use at all.

This weekend, Home Depot and Menards in my area ran out of N-95 facemasks and tyvek suits….They are up 4000% at Amazon…(I already had a stock of both in my preps) …Some folks think that there will be a need…..
Let us hope they are wrong.

So I am at work …..I hear this terrible crying from outside. Sounds like a kitten in distress.

I go outside. Sure enough there is a 4-8 week old kitten in the bushes. Frightened and when it sees me, it hisses and backs up into the corner.

Hmmm. Wonder where it came from???
No houses around..Maybe momma cat stashed it in the bushes. I decide to leave it for a while and see what happens.

2 hours later, kitty is still there and it is beginning to rain.

Hell….Dammit.

Ok, I reach into the bushes and grab kitty by the scruff of the neck.

Turns out it isn’t helpless and that it is faster than a striking snake…..It turns its little head and bites my thumb…. and again…. and again.
I almost dropped the ungrateful little thing.
But instead, I carried it inside and put it in the office bathroom. I ended up with11 bites. One in the meat of my thumb. I let all the punctures bleed for a few minutes until they begin to clot, then pour 70% isopropyl on them to clean and disinfect as best I can….I mean, I thought I might get a scratch, but not bites….certainly not 11. (yeah, I got my ass kicked by a 1 lb kitten…..)

“Rabies?” said I to myself? “Feral kitten…could be rabies.” Now the only test I know of for rabies is hard on the animal, as it requires samples of brain tissue….it is a destructive test, if you get my drift. Then again, I don’t want rabies. My understanding is that it is a bad way to go, although I hear the hallucinations are great just before you kick off….

So I call the local county animal control office. No help. Not even interested. Couldn’t care less and couldn’t have any less knowledge as to procedure…They will have someone call me back. Maybe….. Might even be today….Suggest I call Public Health Department.  I give them my name and number and hope that I will get a call back. I mean, you couldn’t find a less caring more incompetent bunch if you dragged people of the street….Patronage employment in Lake County Indiana has destroyed every government office. One might have thought that the ANIMAL CONTROL folks might have some idea as to what to do for an animal…..but no…  In the meantime, since I have a good 20 year relationship with my vet (I have 5.35 cats currently) I call them:

“Yeah, likely in a kitten you don’t have anything to worry about. But best to have it tested…” is the opinion….. I enquired about the method of testing and yes, it is hard on the cat. The alternative is 10 days of quarantine and an examination. Which runs about $260. How much is the brain type rabies test? I ask… $215.

In the meantime the County Board of Health calls me and wants to know what I am going to do…..Have to fill out a report…. HAVE to have the animal tested or owner verified. (I was tempted to tell them that I lost the cat and it ran away….). This is the help I got from the Animal Control folks…they called the Board of Health…Procedure, you know. The Health people’s only concern is that I could have rabies (and who suggested I look out for infection and maybe get a Tetanus shot….)

So, I went home, got a cat carrier (and leather welding gloves!), crated the kitty (who was not happy about the whole thing but couldn’t get through the gloves) and took the little spiteful feral kitten to the vet for quarantine. hey, what’s an extra fifty or so? The test now HAS to be done, as the County is now informed (I, foolishly, woke the beast). The County Health folks apparently did a reverse lookup and knew my home address from my cell phone number and will fine me if I don’t fill out a report. Not like they are helping with the cat either….Or the test…… Somehow I ended up being responsible for the frikkin test.  No owner, so I am the responsible party…and the fine is “not less than $250…I should have told ’em I lost the thing and taken my chances with rabies….

So…in 10 days we know if I have rabies…and now I gotta find a home for this little kitten (which is worth $260….)

Anybody need a cat? A feisty one?

And so far at a decent price….

Coveralls.

While they last and all that.

Remember, the whole thing about prepping is to PREP. Note the the root of the word…PRE, meaning BEFORE.

Just sayin’