Author Archives: Kyle Kimberlin

the results are in

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First, you need to know that the ultrasound machine does not, it turns out, play The Dead. Guess that would just be too ironic.
 
They didn’t find any actual stones in my gallbladder, which is good. But I got sludge. In my gallbladder . Seems this is the stuff that turns into gallstones. Playdoh that’s still in the can. 
 
So I don’t need surgery, at least not now. Wait and see. What will be. Que sera sera.  Doc says I should consult with a specialist — just in case, I guess — and I’ll think about that.
 
Gotta really really watch what I eat. No fatty foods.
 
Doctor says there’s no medicine for this. But I did some googling and found a drug that’s used to prevent gallstones in people who are obese and losing tons of weight. Sounds like the stuff I need, doesn’t it?
 
Anyhoo, the fat lady ain’t sung yet, so to speak, so we’ll see.
 
This post didn’t turn out to be about what you thought, did it? 
 

who is this guy?

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Bush is still speaking, saying that the Democrats’ spirit is such that they want to protect America, that Democrats are going to stay the course in Iraq, support the troops, etc.  This can’t be the same guy who said the opposite about the Democrats during the election. He said our side was going to leave America unprotected from Terror, cut & run from Iraq and didn’t care about the troops. I think the networks need more cameras in these press conferences, so we can see all of Bush’s faces.

whoa nellie

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What a nail biter, huh? Right on the edge of my seat, am I. My team has taken back the house from the Philistines, but the senate is in a dead heat, 49 to 49. So if those go to the Dems, woo hoo! Even if they don’t, at least the balance of arrogance has definitely shifted.

And by the way, that flatulent little sound you heard tonight was the noxious effluvium of neocon thought, wafting our the back door.

a long walk home

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Today is the birthday of the writer Charles Frazier. He was born in North Carolina in 1950. He wrote Cold Mountain, one of the most  rich and beautiful books I’ve read. And I have read quite a lot of books, and all of them slowly and carefully. Frazier’s desire to write – generally – was born out his sense of loss of North Carolinian culture and environment. The arc of his story was born in family history. In any case, it’s a fine book, and I have read it – slowly and carefully – three times. He used all the right words, in the right order.

i’m back i think

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I took an unscheduled break for a few days there. I really hope I don’t need another break like that.
 
Everything was going along fine until late Tuesday night. I had been out for a walk through the neighborhood whilst the trickers were treating – or whatever – and all the kids seemed to be having a good time. Stopped to chat with our security guard a couple of blocks over. Watched some tube, went to bed about the witching hour. And along about two o’clock … See, I’ve been having these attacks of upper abdominal pain at night. Usually, it lasts 2 or 3 hours and subsides, but this one lasted all night, past dawn. Really bad. 
 
I wound up at the Urgent Care in the early morning – my Dad took me. Thanks Dad!  They got me in a treatment room immediately and I was in there for 2 hours.  The did an EKG, which was normal, and xrays – also OK. So having ruled out heart attack and intestinal blockage, they’re thinking gallbladder. I have to get an ultrasound on Monday. 
 
But anyway, I’m feeling alright now. Whatever it is doesn’t bother me much in the mornings. And it is a beautiful Saturday morning. Soft light on the dusty window blinds. Just outside, seagulls are making psychotic noises. And the garbage truck is coming up the alley, spewing diesel and tossing dumpsters around like legos. Ah, autumn.

the fish rots from the head

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A loyal reader responds to this previous post, asking if anyone in the line of presidential succession could forego a trip to The Wizard for a heart, a brain, or some courage. Presupposing that absolutely all of them have earned a balloon trip back to Auntie Em’s house, let’s take a look …

Sure. Secretary of Transportation. It’s vacant. Perfect.

To borrow the Rumsfeldian style, do we need a president of the US?  No. Would we miss having a Decider, an ultimate place for accountability to stop?  Yes. But is the office superfluous and gorged on its own self-aggrandizement?  Absofrigginlutely.

The presidency was never supposed to be what it is: a megalomonarchy. He’s supposed to be the head of one of 3 separate branches of government. Just the most well-housed wheel in the machine. But Bush is acting like a King, and getting away with it because over the years the government has slowly imploded into its own bloated digestive tract. 

George Washington wasn’t sworn in until April 30 1789, and until then the country hummed along without his ass. We have a legislature and courts, and departments for all sorts of public functions.

Congress has the power to enact laws, not the president. The courts are empowered to enforce the laws, not the president. Congress has the power to declare war, not the president. In fact, the president is empowered to do just about nothing at all that George W. Bush has had his sticky fingers in. 

If We the People decided, in 2008, simply to decline – thank you very much – to elect a president at all, I think the rest of the free world cheer in exalting joy and relief. They would line up to hug us and feed us Belgian Waffles and gooey French cheese and stuff. We would be greeted as liberators!  Especially if, at the same time, we managed to elect a representative government that was expected to work five days a week like the rest of us.