I was seeing triple or more, until I awoke this morning. When it comes to malignant nevi, Allison is the premiere Ocular Oncologist in the Pacific Northwest, so I feel confident that I am good hands. I do have cancer, a Uveal melanoma in my right eye, I will need two outpatient surgeries, one to insert and one to remove a radioactive plaque. It is close enough to the optic nerve, that I will probably lose vision in that eye from radiation damage two to three years later. However the alternative is to lose the eye to the tumor in the same amount of time, while greatly increasing the risk of metastasis. Before the surgery, there are a bunch of hoops I need to jump through. I’ll need a complete physical, a CAT Scan of liver and lungs, an OK from my Pulmonologist, arrangements for home care for 24 hours after both surgeries, a consultation with a Radiation Oncologist. I had so hoped my medical mayhem would level off, but it looks like it will continue through much of the summer. ARGH!! 
TriMet called me to apologize. The driver that screwed up George’s appointment with Sarah did not find me, because she announced at the building next door. The rep said they will emphasize the importance of making sure they are in the right location to all drivers.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 7:44 (average 5:26), (I saw 4 dawgs.) To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: President Obama’s commencement speech today at Howard University firmly and repeatedly challenged the central message of Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. (C-Span link offers video and full text.)
The president was not attacking Sanders’ ideology of fairness. But he was clearly separating himself from Sanders’ dogmatic insistence on revolutionary transformation.
If you want to make life fair, then you have to start with the world as it is.
The balance between idealism and pragmatism was clearly at the forefront of the president’s mind.
Democracy requires compromise, even when you are 100% right. This is hard to explain sometimes. You can be completely right and you still have to engage folks who disagree with you. If you think that the only way forward is to be as uncompromising as possible, you will feel good about yourself, you will enjoy a certain moral security, but you will not get what you want.
This is one reason there has been somewhat of a class divide between Bernie and Hillary supporters. The “moral security” Obama refers to is an emotional and intellectual luxury if it doesn’t contribute to substantive change.
Obama makes a valid point, but his beef should be more with a small, but vocal, idealist minority of Bernie’s supporters, not with Bernie himself. Bernie has stated that his positions are goals and touted his own ability to compromise and work across the aisle. Compromise has been impossible over the last several years, because Republicans have been unwilling to compromise. Every time Democrats have agree to a compromise Republicans have proposed, Republicans have demanded even more concessions.
From NY Times: Austria’s chancellor resigned abruptly on Monday after seven and a half years in office, having lost control of his center-left Social Democratic Party amid a rightward shift fueled by anxiety over migration.
The chancellor, Werner Faymann, initially supported the decision last year by Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, to welcome migrants fleeing war and poverty and to refuse to set a limit on how many might come. But after a ferocious backlash, Mr. Faymann switched course, joining his coalition partner, the center-right Austrian People’s Party, in supporting border restrictions.
The policy reversal was not enough to stop the right-wing Freedom Party, which has run on a strident “Austrians First” platform, from capitalizing on the influx of migrants. In September, the party finished second in regional elections in northern Austria.
An even greater shock to the establishment occurred on April 24, when the Freedom Party candidate, Norbert Hofer, won the first round of the presidential election, capturing more than one-third of the vote. He will face a former Greens leader, Alexander Van der Bellen, in a May 22 runoff.
The two establishment parties — which have governed for the past decade in a so-called grand coalition, a political constellation that has dominated postwar Austria — together received just 22 percent of the first-round vote. No matter who wins the second round, the next president will not be from either mainstream party, for the first time in decades.
I offer condolences to the good people in Austria. Could Hofer be following in the footsteps of a fellow Austrian, whose name also began with an H? That Austrian is the inspiration for today’s Republican Party, here in the US.
From Crooks and :Liars: Going into the West Virginia primary, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has come out in opposition to a "lame duck" vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This takes her beyond her previous statements mildly opposing TPP. Clinton also made a strong statement criticizing our country’s trade agreements in general.
As reported in The Hill, in "Clinton opposes TPP vote in the lame-duck session," Clinton replied to a questionnaire from the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign, which consists of more than 25 labor, environmental and human rights organizations. When asked, "If elected President, would you oppose holding a vote on the TPP during the ‘lame duck’ session before you take office?” she replied, "I have said I oppose the TPP agreement — and that means before and after the election."
I know just how to respond to Hillary’s change of heart. Thank you, Bernie!
Cartoon:
14 Responses to “Open Thread–5/10/2016”
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4:58 Yeah, I thought it was hard. Those tiny beady eyes and that huge nose…
Oh, gosh, sorry – the one silver lining is that you are in good (and it sounds like honest) hands. Many, many prayers.
DKos – I saw the headline and was not up to reading it. Thanks for the summary. I agree with your analysis 100%.
NY Times – This is so sad. Some nations are getting better, but too many are getting worse. And that's all I'll say until Lona weighs in.
Crooks & Liars – I agree with your analysis on this one also.
Cartoon – I'm sure they did include Q'rans, if they could find any. (And your spelling is just fine. Mine is affected.)
I'm just checking in to see what news the oncologist had for you today, TomCat, and I'm so sorry it wasn't better. Looking on the positive side she sounds like she's top of her class and gave you the best option. This way you'll have the disadvantage of having to go through two operations with all the additional hassle, but it will give you the best chance of beating the tumor without it spreading while you're keeping sight in that eye for some years to come. Something you wouldn't have if she removed your eye entirely. It'll give you time to adapt to your new situation. You've been through a whole lot lately, so it's the last thing you want to have to deal with, but you're very strong and I'm sure you'll get through this too. My thoughts are with you, TomCat, take strength from knowing that your friends are rooting for you.
Back tomorrow to comment.
DK: I believe that Bernie has our best interests and concerns on the forefront, and will achieve his goals in the WH, if elected. Go, Bernie!!!
NYT: How sad and depressing. I agree with Joanne on this subject.
Cartoon: Thousands of books destroyed by fire. "70,000 people gathered at the Opernplatz in Berlin. Erich Kästner, the author of internationally renowned children's books including "Emil and the Detectives" (1929), was present that night at the Opernplatz and bore witness to the hideous spectacle.
"I stood in front of the university, wedged between students in SA uniforms, in the prime of their lives, and saw our books flying into the quivering flames," Kästner later wrote. He concluded: "It was disgusting."
*dw.com
I always say a prayer for you, along with my long list to the "Man upstairs" each day. I pray also that all goes well with appointments, and for your medical needs and care. I'm sorry at your news, but encouraged by your Ocular Oncologist, in knowing that you are being taken care of by the best. Glad that TriMet called you back, apologized, and that's straightened out. You don't need that added frustration right now. Get some rest, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Oh, TomCat. I hope that you get THE BEST care! I don't know what to say. It seems you have had to be in the hospital so much, which I am so worried about. I hope this is as easy to do as they tell you. Seems like it should be inpatient, instead. I hope all goes WELL!
I AGREE with you on the Bernie thing. We have to be able to compromise! That is what has been missing since McTurtle made the RepukkklicanTs block ANYTHING that Obama wanted to get done! And it was always, ALWAYS the republicans that would tell Dems they would "only do this if you do this". Dems would work it to where it could work and the RepukkklicanTs would move the bar a LOT more to the RIGHT! Impossible to work with them that way!
Bernie's effect IS WORKING! Clinton would have never said that a year ago!!! Maybe, just MAYBE, Bernie should be the VP for Clinton? We'll see!
TC, whatever you do, PLEASE take good care of yourself! I think I can speak for all when I say we worry about you and your medical needs!!! We ALL love you and want you to be SAFE AND HEALTHY!!! Take care, TC!
Damn! I am sorry to hear of still more medical travails for you! Gooooooood Luuuuck!
NYT: Oh my gosh! Well, if Dumpy looses here, he just might try his luck there. Maybe that's what all this has been a prelude to, a kiss goodby. But, that might be good thing, if he takes his chief ass kisser, Christie, with him.
Someone said, "I'm worried that if Trump is elected he'll leave us for a younger, prettier country." Agree with you that would be better if he's NOT elected.
I am sorry you did not get better news, we were pulling for you. Glad to know the bus problem was settled.
Daily Kos: Compromise is a necessary evil, nothing much can be accomplished without it, as the last 8 years have shown, with the Republicans not only refusing to compromise, but doing everything they could to obstruct President Obama. Both Bernie and Hillary supporters have shown a lack in this area. By refusing to vote if your candidate isn't nominated, you will essentially be voting for Trump.
NY Times: So Austria has Republicans, too? I feel so sorry for the people who are fleeing the wars and destruction in their countries, and the horrible responses they are getting.
Crooks and Liars: Yes, Thank you Bernie. Hillary has moved more to the progressive side during this campaign after seeing the response from Bernie's supporters.
Cartoon: The burning of books is a shameful thing and makes me ill.
What can I say TC? I'm a praying person,so will increase my prayers for your return to better health. I am very sorry you must continue to go through such trials, but it sounds like you are on the right track. Take care, stay positive, and remember you are loved by many.
Puzzle — 3:43 You saw 4 dawgs? . . . or 4 large dawg steaks? Wishful thinking?
Daily Kos — In society today, too often we look for instant this and instant that . . . often verbalised as instant gratification. Instead of working towards goals, society wants the goal achieved now! Life isn't like that. I agree with much of what Obama says, but I also agree with you that it is some of Bernie's followers that have taken the NOW route.
NY Times — We had the sense to dump our Republicans last October. Trudeau and the Liberals are not perfect, but when I see stories like this, I am glad that I am Canadian.
Crooks and Liars — "I know just how to respond to Hillary’s change of heart. Thank you, Bernie!" — I agree!
Cartoon — Despicable!
Sad indeed is your news. I lit a candle for you at church and have tasked our prayer group to pray for you. Of course you're in my prayers daily, and even the fur babes include you in their prayers.
It's often said that the Good Lord doesn't give you more than you can handle. I don't know if that's true for everyone – but it certainly seems to be true in your case.
Given the options it sounds like you made a wise decision.
Back from my earlier late night visit to see how you are as promised, TomCat.
DK: With "If you want to make life fair, then you have to start with the world as it is," Obama seems to have forgotten that Bernie has been trying to make life fair for the world as it is for a very long time now, only to see it getting less fair each year, mainly with Republican help but also with the aid of Democrats and by now he's convinced more is needed than just working with what you got. Bernie and his followers know that the world is past the point of tinkering and repairing, it's time for some serious reconstruction of some pillars the country is built on. Of all people, Obama should know better, having had hands-on experience with introducing ACA.
If this is the way Obama wants to get Bernie's supporters to get behind Hillary if she gets the nomination, he should think again.
NYT: Austria as a country was an avid follower of Herr Hitler in WWII, and although this definitely doesn't mean that all Austrians are susceptible to those extreme right wing ideologies, the country has had it some tendency to lean towards the more extreme right ever since the "Anschluss" in 1938. The scandal around it's President Kurt Waltheim ( 1986 to 1992) who turned out to have been an Oberleutnant in the German army and to have committed war crimes during that period, comes to mind. Many Austrians stood by him and didn't want him to resign despite his denial and lies. Then the neopopulist and right-wing extremist Jörg Haider and his Freedom First (FPÖ) party became very popular until his death in 2008. The fact that Norbert Hofer from that party now stands a chance of becoming the next president doesn't bode well, however ceremonial this function now is. Sadly it is a trend we see all across Europe where Muslim migrants have become the scapegoats for the bad economic situation many countries are in.
C&L: Another item from Bernie's Campaign and political agenda has made it into Hillary's. Keep it up, Hillary, the more you steal AND make it your own, the better. I hope your voters remind you of your position on TPP if and when you get to the White House. And no, it isn't the prerogative of a woman to change her mind, not when she also the president. We'll leave the flip-flopping to Drumpf, shall we?
Drat about the eye, TC – you have an awesome attitude, however, and that makes a huge difference. We'll be here for you as best we can be and sending be- wells by the bushels.
First time I've truly disagreed with Obama… first you have to have the dream and then make it work. There is already far too much acceptance of "as is".
Thank you all for all your loving care. This cat isn't out of lives yet!!
Sounds like you are in good hands who are ensuring you are set up to receive the requisite care for this new episode. Glad you got a response to your complaint so quickly.
Some kinds of incremental change do not do enough for people to actually have improvements–so often it means trade-offs so most are no better off than before, if even that good. I cannot agree with telling people close to death or destitute who have waited 8 years for the promised change to keep waiting another 8 years.
Sad that bigotry sells anywhere.
WV tells us that Bernie's plans for coal country are preferred (he took every single area/county). Glad she has joined him to strengthen opposition in Congress.