Thoughts Out Of Season

MERS-CoV is a novel virus that first came to the attention of the medical community in 2012. A relative of the SARS virus, MERS- CoV attacks its victims lungs and kidneys with a ferocity that leaves SARS in the dust. Of the 168 people confirmed to have been infected with the virus 68 have, a mortality rate of an atrocious 42.5% compared with SARS relatively "benign" 10% mortality rate. Now most will say "Come on! Why bust chops over something that has only infected 160 people! More people than that get f*cked up picking up pennies they find on the street each day!'. Well here's why I'm so concerned. For one the mortality rate of this thing is horrible. Out of every 100 people that become infected 42 die. There's also the problem of this disease not being on many practitioners radar so most likely the first indication that the disease has arrived in a community is when people start dropping like flies. I also have a great concern that the medical esta...

It is now a week since Typhoon Yolanda struck and decimated parts of the Philippines with a savagery unequaled in history. At this time over 3000 people have been confirmed dead, 12,000 injured and hundreds of thousands now in conditions so miserable that some have voiced envy for those that have died. Food and clean water are practically non-existent in many towns. There are no medical services. People have been forced to shelter in the open air amid piles of rubble and the decaying bodies of their loved ones scattered nearby.  Such are the images and stories we have received just from the city of Tacloban, one of the many areas that bore the brunt of Yolanda's savage winds and accompanying storm tide. One could imagine that if  the citizens of Tacloban  receiving worldwide, 24 hour attention  are in such dire straights what could be the situation in the the hundreds of towns and villages also devastated by the storm but unheard of up to now?  It is in my ...

A researcher at Brock University in Ontario has found a correlation between low IQ's , conservative ideology and racism. Children with low intelligence were more likely to hold prejudiced views as adults. They were also more likely to be pro-gun, hoard food in expectation of the End Times, vote Republican and join groups such as the Tea Party. Oddly, many of them professed to having a best friend who was African American.

Police officers from across the state of Alabama will congregate in Bessemer for two days of lectures on the topic of police safety. Some of the topics slated for lecture include: Mass shootings: Waiting Until The Shooter Is Absolutely Dead, In Rigor Mortis, Before Entering The Scene How To Access Tons Of Military Grade Weapons Even If Your Town Hasn't Seen A Felony Since The Hoover Administration "I've Tasered The Bastard 9 Times And He's Still Breathing: Now What?" "Roadside Body Cavity Checks: Not Only For Pretty Women" and the ever popular "Giving A Suspect The Business When There Might Be Cameras Around"

      Pyotr Pavlensky  is a Russian performance artist ticked off by what he feels is his country's decent into a police state. Seeking to make his grievances known to the world he decided to undertake a one-man protest that he believed would draw widespread attention to his cause. Lighting on the annual celebration of Russia's police known as Police Day, Mr. Pavlensky made his way to Red Square where he undressed to his bare skin, sat down and proceeded to nail his scrotum to the pavement! That's right! He nailed his most private of parts to the cold cobblestone of Red Square! Such a display of fortitude! Of sincerity! Imagine a man who would perform a sidewalk vasectomy on himself in the fight against tyranny! This man is now my hero. I will use him as a model of guts, determination and uprightness (uprightness?).  Today I declare Pytor Pavlensky  the first winner of the Rock award, an award given to those who through ...

A Deming, New Mexico was put through a 14 hour rectal exam by police after he was pulled over for going through a stop sign. Police on the scene became suspicious when a drug sniffing dog seemed to indicate that there was drug residue on the seat where the driver had shortly before been seated. Police at that time also seemed to notice that the driver was "holding his butt checks squeezed together". That was all the evidence  police needed. The driver was taken to a local hospital where they demanded of the medical staff that they perform a digital inspection of the driver's rectum. The doctor in charge, described by one of the officers as "a pinko, commie tree hugger, Obama lover" refused to go along with the officers on the absurd grounds that such an exam would be "unethical". Rather than shoot the doctor dead for his seemingly hostile answer to their request police than transported the man to another hospital where staff was more accommodating ...