Now, after the passage of an entire year of healing, exercising, rehabing, and working I can look back and take measure of what has happened, what has been learned, and what remains to be done. The amputation site itself is fully healed, and from all appearances the surgeon did a beautiful job. One of the first things a nurse will say when they look at the amputation site is how good it looks. Wearing and walking on the prosthetic has been a real challenge, mostly due to my lack of balance. I have no feeling in the prosthetic, and due to neuropathy I have no feeling in my right foot either. This makes standing a lot more work than I remember, but I am getting the hang of it. The broken femur in the right leg is still healing, and the right leg is still pretty weak. I do what I can to make it stronger, but I have to be careful not to re-fracture the bone.

I have learned a lot about humility, and the lessons were probably the most important part of my recovery. My ego has shrunken several sizes and I cannot help but feel that I am a better man for it. I have also learned about patience and hard work, and the rewards to be earned through their exercise. It is do to them that I am able to be independent with my prosthetic and rejoin the daily struggle. Finally, I was once again reminded that I have a wonderful wife and family, who have given their undivided support to me whenever I needed it.

Daytime Television Is Worse Than You Think. Nothing has depressed me more than the fact that when I was bedridden, all the entertainment I had was daytime television. It mainly consists of programs like Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, local interest shows and lots of infomercials. Most of the commercials shown during these programs are targeted to the typical viewers this time of day, which apparently consist of high school drop outs, car accident victims, and men with small penises. Whats worse, usually they show the same three or four commercials over and over again during a one hour show, so there is no escape from the madness.

People In Wheelchairs Should Get More Respect. Right now, with one amputated limb and one broken limb, I am wheelchair-bound. This means such everyday tasks like going to the bathroom are now are virtually impossible for me to do by myself. When I go outside and try to propel my wheelchair down the sidewalk, I notice every little crack and uneven surface, and get tired out easily. I’ve always felt sorry for peole forced to use a wheelchair; now I have a genuine respect for what they have gone through and for what they have to deal with on a daily basis.

The Quality Of Your Hospital Care Is Based Upon Your Nurses. Doctors get all of the credit for making people well, but nurses should get most of the credit. For the most part. the nurses who have cared for me have been excellent. They’ve shown a genuine interest in my situation, treated me with kindness and respect, and have been there when I needed them. Chances are, if your nurses treat you badly, you’ll do everything you can to avoid that hospital in the future, and you should.

The TV Show How it’s Made Is Facinating. Sown on the Discovery Channel, this show takes you behind the scenes at factories to show you how all sorts of things are manufactured. They’ve detailed everything from toothpicks to buttons to plate glass to blue jeans. What usually interests me are the custom machines used to fashoin these items. Also, there is a lot of work which is done by hand on a lot of this stuff, and sometime it surprises me that a oarticular process is not automated. It isn;t everyone’s cup of tea, but I was hooked the first time I saw it.

Family Is The Most Important Thing In The World. Without a doubt, I owe my recovery to my family  who have not forgotten me while I’ve been in the hospital. Their visits have let me stay in contact with the outside world, and I can’t tell you how important that is to me. Just as with people in wheelchairs, I have a new found appreciation of family and how important it is to my well-being.

The way the advertising industry portrays men has drawn increasing scrutiny in both the trade press and the mainstream media. Defenders of the status quo — in which men are depicted as irresponsible fathers and lazy, foolish husbands — are starting to feel outnumbered. It’s an understandable feeling.

…

The evidence is clear: “Man as idiot” isn’t going over very well these days.

Defenders of the advertising status quo generally put forth the following arguments: Males are “privileged” and “it’s men’s turn,” so it’s OK to portray them this way, and that men simply don’t care how they’re portrayed. Both of these arguments are highly questionable.

This trend in advertising has been going on for years unchecked. One of the latest examples is a Time-Warner Cable commercial showing a wife in the kitchen speaking on the phone with someone when her husband cones in, takes the lid off of a pan on the stove and all of a sudden the whole stove-top is on fire. While still on the phone, the woman calmly reaches past the quivering man and replaces the cover on the pan, therefore putting out the fire, while at the same time calling a restaurant to get food delivered for that evening’s dinner. Now, my problem here isn’t that the wife is portrayed as smart, confident, and quite able to handle these types of situations; it is that the husband is portrayed as someone so brainless that all he needs to do is walk into the kitchen and stuff starts catching on fire, after which he stands there quivering, afraid to do anything.

As far as males being “privileged”; this is just a stereotype left over from the Fifties. As the article points out, women are now earning a majority of the college degrees (both bachelor and master’s), while at the same time the majority of homeless, imprisoned, and suicide deaths are men. It is true that men make up the majority of the corporate power structure, but given some time I have no doubt that women will catch up and maybe even surpass men in this area. The point is, this is a poor excuse for the constant degradation of males by the advertising industry.

Heck, even women agree that men are getting a raw deal here:

Our campaigns have drawn widespread support from women, who generally do not like to see their sons, husbands and fathers put down. As Rose Cameron, senior VP-planning director and “man expert” at Leo Burnett, says: “One of the great markers [society] looks to about the intelligence of a woman is her choice of husband. So if advertisers position men as idiots in the husband scenario, then you’re commenting on her smarts. Women have told us, ‘If you want to get on my good side, you do not show my husband as the idiot.’”

Since it seems that both sexes agree that the negative portrayal of men in advertising is a bad thing, why isn’t the trend changing? As with most business trends, sometimes the only way to effect change is to hit them in the wallet. Personally, I try to avoid products whose advertising depicts men as clueless idiots. I figure that if enough people avoid these types of products, the manufacturers will get the hint and change their advertising concepts. Money talks.

Finally, I don’t want you to get the idea that I’m some humorless cretin who can’t take a joke. An occasional depiction of a clueless male is fine (just as an occasional depiction of a clueless female is fine), but it has gone way beyond that. In fact, the last commercial I can remember which depicted a man in a favorable light was a Gatoraid commercial showing male athletes competing. Humor in advertising is more than appropriate; many times it is essential. However, care must be taken not to cross the line between parody and outright degradation.

The above picture is of Anthony Lake, which is within the Blue Mountain Range. I don’t know about you, but I could retire there.

My wife entitled this picture “Postcard Perfect.” I don’t think much else can be said.

This picture is caled “Cloud Relfection.” It really shows off how crystal clear the water is up there.

The final one is called “Mountain Reflection.” Nothing to add except that it is gourgeous.

Hope that this little break of beauty does as much for you as it did for me and my wife.

This has got to be the worst example of the abdication of personal responsibility I’ve ever seen.

The conservative politics of the Bush administration forced me to have an abortion I didn’t want. Well, not literally, but let me explain.

I am a 42-year-old happily married mother of two elementary-schoolers. My husband and I both work, and like many couples, we’re starved for time together. One Thursday evening this past March, we managed to snag some rare couple time and, in a sudden rush of passion, I failed to insert my diaphragm.

The next morning, after getting my kids off to school, I called my ob/gyn to get a prescription for Plan B, the emergency contraceptive pill that can prevent a pregnancy — but only if taken within 72 hours of intercourse. As we’re both in our forties, my husband and I had considered our family complete, and we weren’t planning to have another child, which is why, as a rule, we use contraception. I wanted to make sure that our momentary lapse didn’t result in a pregnancy.

The receptionist, however, informed me that my doctor did not prescribe Plan B. No reason given. Neither did my internist. The midwifery practice I had used could prescribe it, but not over the phone, and there were no more open appointments for the day. The weekend — and the end of the 72-hour window — was approaching.

But I needed to meet my kids’ school bus and, as I was pretty much out of options — short of soliciting random Virginia doctors out of the phone book — I figured I’d take my chances and hope for the best. After all, I’m 42. Isn’t it likely my eggs are overripe, anyway? I thought so, especially since my best friend from college has been experiencing agonizing infertility problems at this age.

Weeks later, the two drugstore pregnancy tests I took told a different story. Positive. I couldn’t believe it.

You read that right — this lady acted irresponsibly by engaging in sex without using contraception, and now it’s the President’s fault that she’s pregnant and will chose to have an abortion. Apparently, a serious lack of judgment such as this is only a “momentary lapse” as far as she’s concerned, therefore the pregnancy is not her fault. She is unable to see that her actions, along with her husband’s actions, are responsible for the predicament she’s in. In short, she’s a perfect example of a liberal feminist.

I felt sick. Although I’ve always been in favor of abortion rights, this was a choice I had hoped never to have to make myself. When I realized the seriousness of my predicament, I became angry. I knew that Plan B, which could have prevented it, was supposed to have been available over the counter by now. But I also remembered hearing that conservative politics have held up its approval.

Every drug sold in the United States goes through a lengthy process at the FDA prior to it’s approval.

Moreover, they aren’t even required to tell the patient why they won’t provide the drug. Nor do they have to provide a list of alternative sources. I had asked the ob-gyn’s receptionist if politics was the reason the doctor wouldn’t prescribe Plan B for me. She refused to answer or offer any reason, no matter how much I pressed her. By the time I got on the phone with my internist’s office and found that he would not fill a Plan B prescription either, I figured it was a waste of time to fight with the office staff. To this day, I don’t know why my doctors wouldn’t prescribe Plan B — whether it was because of moral opposition to contraception or out of fear of political protesters or just because they preferred not to go there.

In any event, they were also partly responsible for why I was stuck that Friday, and why I was ultimately forced to confront the decision to terminate my third pregnancy.

No. No. No.

You were forced to confront this decision because you acted irresponsibly, plain and simple. Had you acted responsibly, none of this would have occurred. It isn’t the doctor’s fault that you had sex without contraception. It isn’t the President’s fault that you had sex without contraception. It’s your fault.

All the while, I was thinking that if religion hadn’t been allowed to seep into American politics the way it has, I wouldn’t even be there. This all could have been stopped way before this baby was conceived if they had just let me have that damn pill.

Now it’s God’s fault! Just a suggestion, lady: if you really think God’s responsible for your pregnancy, you’d better call the press. The last time that happened over 2000 years ago, it was a pretty big deal.

Not only is this lady ignorant of her situation, she’s also ignorant of her history. Religion has been apart of our politics since before this nation existed. Just because she and her liberal buddies don’t think it should be doesn’t make it so.

It was a decision I am sorry I had to make. It was awful, painful, sickening. But I feel that this administration gave me practically no choice but to have an unwanted abortion because the way it has politicized religion made it well-nigh impossible for me to get emergency contraception that would have prevented the pregnancy in the first place.

And to think that, all these years after Roe v. Wade became the law of the land, this is what our children have to look forward to as they approach their reproductive years.

One more time for those of you who ride the short bus: If you had acted responsibly, by using contraception, you would not have needed “emergency” contraception. If you had taken a moment and used your diaphragm, you would not have gotten pregnant in the first place. You are an adult. You are responsible for your own actions. It is not the government’s place to provide you with a means to allow you act irresponsibly without having to face the consequences of your actions.

As for what your children have to look forward to, at least they’re alive. It’s hard to imagine that, given the fervor that you display towards allowing anyone to kill their unborn child for any reason, including inconvenience. I only hope that someone who can teach them about personal responsibility crosses their paths before they act as stupidly as you did.

UPDATE: As pointed out in the comments, I confused the Plan B pill with RU486. The Plan B pill is used to prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall, and thereby preventing pregnancy, while RU486 is the pill which causes an abortion. The language in this post which referenced RU486 has been removed. My apologies for the error.

Hat Tip: The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler

The arson attacks apparently began when the three got into Cloyd’s sport utility vehicle for a night of deer shooting in Bibb County on Feb. 2, according to Walker Johnson, a federal agent who investigated the fires.

Moseley told agents that the three set fire to five Baptist churches in the early morning hours of Feb. 3. A witness quoted Cloyd as saying Moseley did it “as a joke and it got out of hand.”

Moseley also told agents the four fires in west Alabama were set four days later “as a diversion to throw investigators off,” an attempt that “obviously did not work,” the court papers said.

First off, why are these teenagers going out at night to shoot deer? I’m not a hunter by any means, but I’m pretty sure that when you go hunting, you usually go in the early morning hours of the day so that you have enough light to see what you’re aiming at. Next, what kind of mind equates setting a building on fire with a “prank”? A prank is tying someone’s shoelaces together or making a funny face behind someone’s back. What kind of environment produces a teenager who thinks that destroying private property using arson is nothing more than a joke?

An attorney for Cloyd, Tommy Spina, declined comment on the charges, but added: “This is not a hate crime. This is not a religious crime.”

No, it is a stupid crime. After they’re done jailing the teenagers, I think the authorities need to take a look at the parents. Someone is responsible for the lack of perspective these kids have.

In return, I get to claim the most beautiful woman on the planet as my wife, I get to come home to her each and every day and enjoy interesting discussions on world events and popular culture, go to civic events with her and have a blast, and know deep down in my heart that above all else, she loves me almost as much as I love her. Of course, it isn’t possible for her to love me as much as I love her, because I need her more. I can be assured at all times that if something were to happen to me, she will take care of me so well that I don’t have to worry about it.

So, the more intelligent among you have probably already noticed that she really got the short end of the stick in this whole deal. I know she did, but what can I say? My entire life revolves around her being my wife and friend. There really isn’t an adjective which describes how happy being married to her makes me, because mere words pale in comparison. Suffice to say that since the day we were married, we have really become one person, both spiritually and literally.

Rene, I love you now and forever.

Coretta Scott King Funeral: President Bush attended the funeral, along with three of the four living former Presidents. Some of the people who also attended and spoke at the funeral decided to turn the remembrance into a “Bash Bush” party, including Jimmy Carter and Joseph Lowery. You’d think that after the Paul Wellstone fiasco, the Democrats would have learned that all this type of behavior does is make them look like classless jackasses, but apparently they didn’t. I guess they just can’t deny their true nature.

Al Gore, Tony Blair, and the End of the World: It seems that major supporters of the theory of Global Warming are all starting in with their doomsday rhetoric.About the only thing they can’t agree on is how much time Earth has left. Gore says ten years, Blair says seven. Even though climate scientists themselves can’t agree on whether or not global warming is actually happening or not, these giants of academia deem themselves above such petty concerns as experience, knowledge, and scientific study and announce themselves as experts on when the world will end. If nothing else, at least these chicken littles are good for a laugh now and then.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Going maybe where no other actor has gone before, “Star Trek” star William Shatner has sold a piece of his body for charity.

Shatner, famed for playing Captain James T. Kirk, commander of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise in the original “Star Trek” TV series, sold his kidney stone to online casino GoldenPalace.Com for $25,000. The money will be donated by Shatner to Habitat for Humanity to build houses for the poor.

But Shatner said it wasn’t easy parting with a kidney stone, even if it had already left his body. He also said he would never sell unless he had visitation rights.

“When I was contacted about selling my kidney stone to GoldenPalace.Com for an original price of $15,000 I turned it down, knowing that my tunics from Star Trek have commanded more than $100,000,” Shatner said, adding that he countered by offering to sell the ring-sized stone for $25,000.