This is routine, this is not routine

So much press about the vice president these days. Before Cheney, most people considered the VP position the way George Dallas did: "It ain't worth a bucket of warm piss." But now, with president Halfwit, we all know Cheney is the most important VP in history. That's probably why we're so scared about the recent "procedure" that Cheney had to reopen a clogged artery. Normal press be damned, I say. Let's look at this from the point of view of webloggers.

Al can't understand what the fuss is about. From his point of view (he's an RN in coronary care in my former home of Portland, OR) this is part of a normal maintenance of someone who has Acute Coronary Syndrome.

He got a diagnostic cath, found out that he had lost the roll of the dice (1 out of 5 stent patients have restenosis) and he bought himself an angioplasty. I mean, yeah; he needed urgent therapy, and he got fixed. Where was the news?

He points out that care has improved greatly, and concedes that this is a novel experience for many Americans, who think that ACS is a death sentence sooner rather than later. No big whoop, in short.

Jason takes a different view (He's also in health care):

I can tell all of you that there's not a chance in hell that any doctor would perform a cardiac catheterization if there weren't an urgent need. The White House is spinning this one big time.

Note the rhetoric: exactly the same, in the use of the word urgent. But it's clear that while Al thinks that "urgent" refers to the prior situation of Cheney's condition, Jason sees in it a more dangerous problem as symptom of ongoing risk. Very interesting. I'm worried because I'm not sure either Bush or Cheney will make it full term. Cheney because of his heart condition, Bush because of the Curse of Tecumseh, which supposedly is why presidents elected in years ending with "0" die in office (every president so elected after 1840 did, except Reagan, who just missed being the latest). The only President we've ever had that wasn't elected to anything was Gerald Ford, whom you may recall was appointed by Nixon to replace Spiro Agnew, a VP more crooked than Tricky Dick himself.

Seeing these articles about people's treatable heart conditions hurts.
This is so nice.
This nearly made me cry, for the same reason.

Copyright issues for webloggers

Two of the sites listed for the part above, Q and IRMIYL, have disclaimers that say that nothing can be reproduced, distributed, etc., without their permission. While I'm naturally predisposed to respect the rights of writers, and don't want to irritate webloggers in particular, I can't help but be a little put off by that. I'm not using any other material for commercial gain, and I'm crediting by hyperlink their sites directly. What's the harm there? If someone else uses my material, crediting me, for noncommercial purposes, I guarantee I'll never be unhappy about it.

Groping for levity

India's parliamentary rules barring cell phones in the chamber are being ignored. During a recent speech by President Narayanan, at least half a dozen rings went off in the middle of it, leading them to install cell phone jamming devices in both houses. Prediction: US theatres will move to install these things quickly. There's nothing more irritating than a cell phone going off in the movie.

Penguins invade Copacabana! These flightless avians normally stick around Argentina, but are going way farther north to Rio de Janeiro. Why not? I hear the beach is pretty nice.

Finally, go check out the archives at Snopes for good surfing. For example, the pregnant woman who was forced to prove she wasn't shoplifting a basketball.