I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

lassie11

I agree Kay about the sleep patterns. And about avoiding any extra medications. And about being privileged beyond what my ancestors could have imagined in their "two up, two down back to back" houses. I saw a recreation of those houses in England a couple of years ago and have no idea how anyone slept with so many in a bed and no indoor bathroom.

1Athena1

Blue, really, they don't represent us. They are merely the trash culture and right-wing media's darlings, and the people we love to gawk at - like a bad road accident.

Don't say the US doesn't entertain. But it is also great, vast, and endlessly interesting - even with itsa huge contradictions and weaknesses. 

This annoying rant-o-rama by gun touters is also one of the features of an open society. Everything is there for the viewing, including the NRA and its ridiculous commercials, and people with really, really strange punctuation !!!

bluedahlia

I know, but somtimes I wonder if some people pack a rod when they go to church on Sunday.

1Athena1

Oh, I'm sure they do!

One of my favorite sayings about this crazy country was uttered by the Englishman in "It's a Wild, Wild, Wild Wild World,"

This only happens in America!

GatorGal

Hi all,

Have been in Houston visiting my BFF .... read BCO every night but didn't always post. I have kept up with all of you. Tonight I will be up all night .... decadron since today was a chemo day. I don't mind one night of being up all night but hate when it continues. Take clonazepam which really helps me. I usually read a book on the ipad so I don't have the light disturbing DH. Someone mentioned if they get on the computer they're up all night. That's me, too. Once I'm on the computer there's always something else to do. I try to avoid that. GG - I agree -- retirement in Hawaii sounds good. Good to be back. Have missed you all. E - hope you get that farm!

RetiredLibby

You know, I was talking to DH earlier after watching all the gun nuttery on the news (NBC Nightly and our local news) about people running to gun stores to buy more guns.  I am just barely old enough to recall the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act in the 1960s.  I was only little - not 10 yet -- but I vaguely remember my mother being very happy.  I don't remember vicious hysteria and hatred broadcast all over the airwaves, but it was a different time.  There was no internet, no Facebook, no chat rooms or discussion boards for every whackadoodle racist to spew forth hatred to a rapt audience of the same 60 people.  There was lots and lots and lots of hatred, I know.  Lynchings and cross burnings and beatings and murders and hatred aplenty -- I know.  And that still goes on.  I don't think this is much different -- it is just so in your face now because of the 24-hour news cycle (gotta "feed the beast") and the fact that censorship restrictions have been all but eliminated and the bounds of what would be reported in good taste have completely disappeared.  In other words -- it was ever thus.  It was probably worse then, but not so accessible to us then.

Remember, Blue -- the President WON the election with a majority of the popular vote. More than 50% TWICE, a feat last achieved by Dwight D. Eisenhower.  There are more of *us* than there are of *them* -- and they know it and they hate it.  And history and time are on *our* side.  The tide is turning ... it is getting better.  But there are still parts of this country I wouldn't go! 

L

1Athena1

Nice to "see" you back, Glenna!

Some people have mild insomnia and can find sleep with the use of lifestyle adaptations and props (eg: music, counting sheep, etc.... For some of us, though, nothing begins to work. It's a brain issue. Hope the clonazepam works. It used to for me, but no more. I think I metabolize it too slowly and only find myself feeling drowsy the next day.

FYI, sisters, the FDA is revising downward the dosing recommendations for Ambien in women. The issue is under consideration for men (women typically metabolize more slowly than men).

pip57

I have to say that I still enjoy my trips south of the border.  Most people are pleasant and I have never seen a gun.  However, my son and his gf did a couple of years ago.  They were at a gas station and a car pulled up beside them and showed them their guns in an unsettling manner. Both of them were terrified.

bluedahlia

Good article...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-moore/its-the-guns-_b_1700218.html

On a brighter note, the pups are warming up to each other.  Lots of yawning going on which in dog speak means " its OK"!

We have a Portugese Bakery across the street and I just had the most marvelous pecan custard puff pastry and a nice cup of tea.  No need to worry about dessert anymore!

bluedahlia

I've always wanted to drive down to Florida Pip, but I think I'll wait.  I'm a chicken shit...can't run fast.  heheheeeeeeeehe!

pip57

From Blue's link:

"That means the United States is responsible for over 80 percent of all the gun deaths in the 23 richest countries combined. Considering that the people of those countries, as human beings, are no better or worse than any of us, well, then, why us?

1Athena1

Obama announced his gun policy today. He said, in part,

“This is our first task as a society,” Mr. Obama said. “Keeping our children safe. This is how we will be judged. And their voices should compel us to change.”

A country capable of electing this president has to be great. Funny, we were the laughing stock of the world during the Bush years, then we shocked everyone (including ourselves) by doing something totally wise and civilized and choosing Obama. In return, we get a statesman who makes the above observation, one we haven't heard from an American head of state in a very, very long time.

The Reagan revolution is over, but not without some kicking and screaming.

Enjoyful

I have clonazepam (klonopin) but it stopped working. I took 10 Mg of melatonin 30 min ago so we'll see how that works.



Athena - neurontin doesn't work for me and seroquel makes my brain agitated and restless (like a pack of squirrels fighting over a nut). I will ask about lunesta and sonata and unisom. And the restless legs - my God, I rode my imaginary bike to the GWN and back last night.

alexandria58

There was an article somewhere - I think the new york times magazine - several years ago when there was a study of people who basically copied "natural" sleep time.  That is, they'd get into bed when it got dark and wake when it was light.  A very long night in the winter.  They didn't sleep all the time, a lot of dozing, and i remember some grumbling about it being boring, but there seemed to be some benefits of alertness during daylight hours.

Not something I can do - or really want to do - but interesting.

bluedahlia

I love your President Obama Athena!  Reagan was responsible for a couple of good things too!  I gotta say I did like him.

1Athena1

Ha ha - I know what you mean, E!

Anti-depressants (eg: Celexa/citalopram and its isomer Lexapro/escitalopram) and other meds can cause restless legs (and also akathesia). I sometimes just have to concentrate hard on trying to keep my leg muscles relaxed. If the situation is hard to control, a short-term fix for some people is cyclobenzeprene. It relaxes the muscles and also induces sleep. Ask your doctors if you can take it. It has knocked me out a good 12 hours at a time.

Belinda44

Enjoyful

I'm sorry, but when your constitutionally-given (and that's up for debate) right to own an automatic weapon with a high capacity clip infringes on my UNALIENABLE right to life, your right is now a wrong that requires correction.

suzieq60

The mods didn't like what I posted this morning about the NRA , so they removed it. You have to have an Aussie/Kiwi sense of humour to get it. Anyone wants to know what I said - PM me.

Belinda44

1Athena1

Rachel Maddow giving a superb dissertation on trolls. Trolls, she says, are deliberate provocateurs who seek to incite an outcry for attention and some following. Among the trolls she lists are the NRA. I agree. They are just having a tantrum like four-year-olds.

Blue, you liked Reagan? Couldn't STAND the man. It was under his "voodoo economics"  that our deficits soared, the gap between rich and poor grew - and he did not win the Cold War. He should have been impeached for Iran Contra, too. And he refused to divest from South Africa during the Apartheid era.

But by today's standards he would be a flaming liberal and a humanist. Sad. He actually raised taxes and negotiated a fix to keep Social Security alive and solvent. How times change. Still, I am glad his era is dying.

1Athena1

Belinda, LOVE your pics!

Belinda44

"Conservatives’ appalling response to Obama’s gun-control proposals shows just how out of touch they are with America, says Michael Tomasky."

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/16/the-gop-will-lose-on-guns.html

bluedahlia

Ya Athena, I liked him.  I wasn't into politics back then though.  I do remember him trying to tighten gun laws but not specifically.

208sandy

Wasn't it Mr. Reagan who defunded mental health facilities thus pushing the patients into the streets where they remain today?

pip57

Just wondering...it is the 2nd ammendment, right?  So why can't there be another ammendment given the changes in weaponry and society?  The US was a new country and surely it has matured into something better and different than it was in those days.

Chickadee

208sandy, yes he did. I had forgotten that one. He also trashed the air traffic controllers union and set off the downfall of unions everywhere and lots of good 40 hour jobs. Set us up with Bush 1.



I was no fan of him or his wife.

Enjoyful

Pip -

YES, and there can be.  Unfortunately, any sort of weapon-restricting amendment would never make it past the first riot, assassination, hostage situation, mass shooting, and generalized NRA/TeaParty-fueled hysteria among the partial second amendment-ers.  I say "partial" because they always, ALWAYS, disregard the "well-regulated militia" part.  

It's so fun living here among my paranoid and violent neighbors.  *sigh*

Enjoyful

Here's a little gun rights story -

My ex lives on a street with a crazy neighbor.  We'll call him "Crazy McNeighbor."  Crazy has severe mental health issues but still owns several guns.  When he has a breakdown, he's extremely paranoid and believes the entire neighborhood is out to get him.  So what does he do?  He sets fires in peoples' yards, he takes his guns and shoots out car windows, he stands in the streets and screams obscenities as passersby.  And what happens?  The police show up, talk him down, arrest him if necessary, but they never take his guns because they can't.  

Should this person be allowed to own a gun and threaten anyone's unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?  What is the answer?  That a neighbor buy a bigger gun and take out Crazy the next time he rampages?  And if someone passing by doesn't understand the situation, and they have a BIGGER gun, can they take out Crazy's neighbor?  It's an unending spiral of vigilanteism (is that even a word?) and every person for himself.  Is that what we really want?

Enjoyful

Insomnia update:

The two melatonin helped me sleep from about 10 to 4.  I guess that's a step in the right direction.