CT ABDOMEN WO IV CONTRAST

MEDICAL

Name: Tessier, Randall Louis
Exam: CT Thorax WO IV CONTRAST, CHEST
Exam Date: 10/05/07

There has been marked decrease in the size of multiple enlarged lymph nodes which is quite striking.

Findings: Interval essentially complete resolution of intrathoracic lymph node enlargement that was previously quite extensive.

No lung nodules, and no other significant thoracic abnormality.

Impression: Virtually 100% regression of intrathoracic disease.

POLITICAL

A close friend of mine was curious to know what society (if indeed Western culture is as messed up as many people think), do I think is getting it right, or close to right. Sophisticated and bright as my esteemed colleague is, there’s no hiding his implied point that the western democratic model may not be perfect but it’s the best darned thing we’ve got going. Shane, come back!

Here’s the problem, most Americans assume without question that the Iraqi people want freedom and democracy. Here, I defer to the eloquence of Robin Fox, professor of social theory at Rutgers:

For a start, there are no ‘Iraqi People.’ The phrase is pure rhetoric. Iraq as a nation was devised by the compasses and protractors of Gertrude Bell when the British and French divided up the Middle East after World War 1. We know well enough the ethnic-religious division into Kurd, Sunni, and Shiite. But what is not understood is that Iraq, like other countries of the region, still stands at a level of social evolution where the family, clan, tribe, and sect command major allegiance, and the idea of the individual autonomous voter, necessary and commonplace in our systems, is totally foreign, and would not make sense to the ‘average Ahmed’.

R.J. the analogy that begs itself is the aesthetic comparison. Am I to look at the work of another artist, consider their negatives and positives, and then decide how to best assess your work? Certainly context matters, but, putting insane, cruel theocracies and murderous dictatorships aside, how should we judge our policies, on civil liberties, on torture, on military intervention? I would argue that many of my good friends, like Doc (Fubar Trumpeter), McGee, GB of Kingpins fame, and you, R.J., have been betrayed by someone who has gone against a proud tradition of just and equitable Republican political policies. Would Andrew Sullivan, William Safire, George Will, William F. Buckley and other important conservative thinkers really endorse what is happening in this country? Do you?

Today, Wednesday, October 17, 2007, I listened to Bush’s press conference. He talked about the Dalai Lama, but not a word about Darfur. I too like the Dalai Lama, but pretending to be egalitarian and socially concerned by cozying up to the Dalai Lama, while at the same time encouraging Congress to ignore the Turkish massacres of Armenians is like having your picture taken with Bono while waterboarding Larry Craig. Praise God and tickle me Elmo! Bush said the people were behind the policies he’s built into the bills he’ll consider passing. Excuse me? The people? Has anyone told the great decider that 70% of the public no longer supports him? What people?