Xristi’s passing
I regret to inform you that Xristi Megas passed away Friday,
December 29, 2006, at her home. Miss Betsy Trotwood was adopted by her caring vet - “Dog Doc” (Carl Jameson).
Xristi is survived by two brothers, one sister-in-law, two nieces, a nephew, and by many friends.Below is a list of some of the charities she supported in recent months. Please feel free to contribute to any (or all!) of them in her memory:
American Civil Liberties Union
Southern Poverty Law Center
KQED and KTEH (or your local public television/radio)
American Humane Association
Humane Society of the United States
Environmental Defense
Defenders of Wildlife
World Wildlife Fund
Democracy in Action
and
Democratic National Committee
Xristi’s friendship and wise counsel will be missed - however, her wit and wisdom will live on!Tamsin
Her Favorite blogs:
http://priceofliberty.net - The Price of Liberty is Vigilance
http://evenlittlesparrows.blogspot.com/ - Sparrow Chat
http://www.crooksandliars.com/ - Crooks and Liars
http://www.thinkprogress.org/ - Think Progess
http://www.nocapital.blogspot.com/ - No Capital
http://cernigsnewshog.blogspot.com/ - NewsHog
http://www.cursor.org - Cursor
http://www.mockpaperscissors.com/ - Mock, Paper, Scissors
http://tumblingvice.blogspot.com/ - Tumbling Vice
http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/ - BobGeiger (formerly Yellow Dog)
http://left-over.blogspot.com/ - Left-Over
Glossary for newcomers:
Chief of the Counterfeit Compassionate Conservative And Oh Yeah By The Way Conspicuously Caucasian Caucus = George W. Bush
Dither of Dolts = The Bush Administration and heads of agencies
Lint Twins = The Bush twins, who, like lint, are neither useful nor decorative
Shithead = Karl Rove. To save typographer’s labor and print space, this combines the two soubriquets frequently applied to Mr. Rove: Bush’s Brain + Turd Blossom = Shithead
XianXrazies = Any group professing to be Christian which believes the faith excludes any of humanity from the hope it presumably offers since Christ’s sacrifice or which believes it has successfully learned to read God’s mind or which believes God wants followers who are drafted or gathered by impressment or which believes God hates or wants anyone else to hate those who do not believe in Him.
Ambulatory Emetic = Condi Rice, Secretary of State, aka the cacophagous, fawning bitch cur that slithers and crawls behind her master. A gourmand of whatever shit he deposits, she mixes it with her venomous digestive juices, then vomits it forth before the leaders of the world
War = . The indefeasible demonstration in support of the premise that we aren’t good enough to qualify as fallen angels and aren’t smart enough to qualify as risen apes.
—o0o—
A bagatelle of the bizarre…
1. Eye of the Beholder Case One: John Bolton
Of Mr. Bush’s eye, Mr. Bolton is the apple. The President pours the emollients of adulatory praise and gratitude over Mr. Bolton in his farewell, as though no one in the world were cursed/blessed with memory or the experience of having that scaly presence dragged across personal sensitivities. According to Mr. Bush,
He served his country with extraordinary dedication and skill, assembling coalitions that addressed some of the most consequential issues facing the international community,” the president said. “During his tenure, he articulately advocated the positions and values of the United States and advanced the expansion of democracy and liberty.
“Ambassador Bolton led the successful negotiations that resulted in unanimous Security Council resolutions regarding North Korea’s military and nuclear activities. He built consensus among our allies on the need for Iran to suspend the enrichment and reprocessing of uranium,” Bush added. “His efforts to promote the cause of peace in Darfur resulted in a peacekeeping commitment by the United Nations. He made the case for United Nations reform because he cares about the institution, and wants it to become more credible and effective.”
Mr. Bolton had demonstrated his care about the effectiveness and credibility of the institution by saying on prior occasions:
“If the UN secretary building in New York lost 10 storeys, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”
“If I were redoing the Security Council, I’d have one permanent member: The United States.”
Talk about your tough love!
Tony Snow, not a man to be caught on a road not previously trod by the Presidential boot, had apparently by mid-November known that kudos to Mr. Bolton would be lavish, despite a certain inevitability since the mid-term election that his head would probably go bouncing down the dais steps along with Rumsfeld’s. After all, Rumsfeld’s performance had been lavishly praised, just before the not very skilled Mr. Bush attempted to “whoooooosh” net by lobbing his severed head through the basket.
The home team didn’t cheer. It stamped its feet and chanted, “Why now when we’ve lost and not sooner when it might have helped!!!”
In this Administration, however, an oracle like Mr. Snow learns to speak not with forked, but with fully shredded, tongue. No matter what Mr. Bush had decided about Bolton, just as was the case with Rumsfeld, something Snow had said, sometime or other, someplace or other, could have been spun as a prediction — of staying or going, as need seemed to demand. It’s not as though the other end of the rope in this Administration is tied to an anchor of truth that has to be considered.
Thus, in Snow’s eyes, Bolton has been “highly successful” and “has demonstrated an ability to work effectively with other members and other U.N. delegations”
For some, however, Mr. Bolton has not been an apple of watchful eyes. If anything, he’s been a particularly irriating floating mote, one that escapes removal and won’t be washed away. Thus, according to the view of ThinkProgress:
Bolton will be leaving a tenure that has been characterized by ineffectiveness and U.S. estrangement from the world community. Some highlights of Bolton’s “highly successful” tenure.
– Isolated the United States from its allies on the Human Rights Council. The United States was one of four nations to oppose the creation of the Council. (170 nations voted for it.) Out of 30 or so negotiating sessions over the creation of the Council, Bolton attended just one. He also argued for permanent membership for China and Russia on the Council.
– Made stopping genocide in Sudan a low priority. In early June, Bolton skipped a U.N. Security Council mission to Sudan for a speaking engagement at the Centre for Policy Studies, a right-wing think tank in London. Most other nations, including the UK, China, and France, sent their top representatives.
– Sought to undermine the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs aimed to convert rhetoric into hard numbers on such issues as reducing global poverty and hunger. Just days after he arrived in New York after his recess appointment, Bolton released over 700 edits to the draft document for the 2005 World Summit Outcome, excising all mentions of the MDGs.
Well, as Mr. Bush said, “During his tenure, he (Mr. Bolton) articulately advocated the positions and values of the United States and advanced the expansion of democracy and liberty.”
If you don’t recognize the “positions and values of the United States” as articulated by Mr. Bolton and revealed by his actions, and if you have trouble seeing how his words and deeds advanced the expansion of democracy and liberty, you obviously have NOT being paying sufficient attention to our Attorney General and his amazing lexicon of redefined principles on which this nation was founded, and the extent to which a fair number of our Supreme Court justices seem to be mounted on a single rod: Knock one over, you down’em all — like those adorable plump wooden yellow ducks in the carnival!
UPDATE 12/05/06: For lots of additional information about Mr. Bolton’s UN tour, see the Progress Report from The Center for American Progress Action Fund. As always, it is very full and comes complete with links to underlying material of interest — all well worth your time.
2. Eye of the Beholder Case Two: Pfizer and Big-Hearted Pharma Industry
Even before the labyrinthine Medicare Drug Benefit made its way into our lives, I entertained suspicions about pharmaceutical companies. I watched their lobbyists at work; I studied commercials geared to leave the viewer feeling that he had just watched a big-hearted public service message; I looked up on the Internet those financial reports which are required to be filed as part of public records. Imagine my surprise! Of the seven reports I studied by line, all expended more on “Marketing” and “Other/Miscellaneous” than on “Research and Development”. Gives a person pause, yes? In fact, in the case of a few, whiskers and tails as well! After all, R&D is the excuse for the high drug prices in this country. U.S. consumers “repay” R&D costs at a much higher rate than foreign customers. Go figure!
Check out Merck’s third quarter 2006 income report and balance sheet (then click to the full reports of 2005).
Now move on the Pfizer. Same drill with 2006 interim and 2005 annual reports.
Now get yourselves a clean hanky. Pfizer has fallen on hard times with its clinical trials of Torcetrapib.
Please understand: I am able to be here mouthing off today because of chemotherapy advances since 1961 when cancer killed my mother. I am grateful. But because I am basically a socialist at heart, it grieves me at some fundamental level that products necessary to health or sustaining life are tied to profitability. Those things I want to be a given in everyone’s life. Furbelows and extras like fine wines, a third home, snazzy old cars – fine. Those willing to work longer and harder or able to work smarter should have ‘em by all means. But not from rapacious salaries, bonuses, and dividends they receive from companies producing the necessities of life for people working at less exalted rates of pay (the not-a-change-in-nine-years minimum wage somehow springs to mind) and barely able to survive now that they’ve been stripped of medical benefits and reliable pensions.
And I am particularly disturbed by this quote. You will note it is not directed at sorrow that the trials have had to be halted, that the drug will not after all be available to help possibly hundreds of thousands of sufferers. No, that’s not the reason Pfizer is hanging out black crepe:
“I am terribly disappointed. This drug, if it worked, would probably have been the largest-selling pharmaceutical in history.”
That from the apparently unapologetic lips of Dr. Steven E. Nissen, described as “lead investigator in an earlier clinical trial of torcetrapib, a heart-disease medication that Pfizer has shelved.”
As the linked article says:
“Eighty-two people had died so far in a clinical trial, versus 51 people in the same trial who had not taken it. “
Yep, real damned shame about those lost sales.
Someone just said that the only person who would have Bush’s undying gratitude and appreciation would be Rumsfeld who would replace Bolton! Eeegods! Bush’s nightmare continues to unfold in our waking lives. As for the drug companies, that statement sounds true to their mindset - always profit before people. Bastards would be a much too kind a title.
PC Mary, good God! Surely not even Bush believes Rumsfeld is a suitable match for the UN post?????? (Note the tone of less than certainty evidenced by those ?’s!) I have heard speculation that Rumsfeld himself “leaked” the “perhaps we need to change course” memo making headlines the last couple of days. At the time I first heard of the memo, I wondered whether Rumsfeld, like “Heckuva job, Brownie”, has become pissed enough for such an act of rebellion — you know, telling the truth.
We live, alas, in very interesting times!
I haven’t heard any rumors of Rummy taking Bolton’s job, and I doubt the Democrats would sanction it, but if it was left up to Bush that decision would not surprise me.
The pharmaceuticals are a blot on human existence, but they’re not alone. There was a time money did not dictate humanity’s ethics. Now profit is the only factor. Even when it comes to saving the environment, governments have developed a scheme of “trading carbon emissions”. There is only one God: money.
Mr. Adams, I despairingly agree with you. I have joined the Democratic Socialists of America, not because I believe many inroads can be made against our greed but because I can think of nothing more effective. On a more personal level, if I don’t need them to feed/provide medical care for the dog and myself, all funds that enter this house leave immediately on their way to agencies that provide help to those who need it more than I or who are trying to save our poor ravaged planet from us. Not a big praiseworthy sacrificie: My largest expenditure was always books, and with the Internet and friends willing to make trips to the library for me it, I’ve discovered something fascinating: It is possible to read a book without owning it. And since I am largely housebound, wardrobe has ceased to be an issue — around the neighborhood, my sweats, aged and holey, are not considered bad form! And a friend has found a place where the squirrel and birdfeed can be had at steep discount, so the backyard critters are not suffering. I’m becoming a bonafide, anti-American, spend-nothing-you-don’t-have-to cheapskate!
Remember when big pharma was at least embarrassed enough to conceal its greed? I thought Dr. Nissen’s comment brutish in the extreme.
I cannot say that I am shocked by Dr. Nissen’s comment, Xristim, only that it was said without guile. Given that most drug R&D actually happens in schools and on the US government’s tab (actually, our tax money), we already have paid for the up-front development cost before they gouge us again at the pharmacy.
Bitter? You betcha. Like an aspirin.
As for Mr. Bolton, I’m not opposed to the top-ten stories being removed as long as I could ascertain the exact location of his office, and ensure he was alone in the building.
Best regards,
Tengrain
The monetary aspect of medicine, including pharmaceuticals, is and has always been, the most troubling. Why we don’t recognise the need to care for one another when unwell as an essential role of our human beingness . . .is beyond me.
That our best and brightest educate and train to become healers and then expect the financial recompense to be part of the bargain exemplifies the Marxian disillusionment of capitalism argument perfectly. On the one doctors deserve to be earning a higher wage, on the other hand the reason they are doing so is because of the suffering of their fellow beings.
Most enter the medical profession for altruistic wishes. That same altruism often unfortunately dissipates and callouses with the hours and the risks they face.
As for the pharmaceutical companies–? Heartless corporate beasts that encourage, not discourage sickness for the very reason it feeds into their profits?: they should be nationalized and combined into one large medical research seeking the answer to what best serves the health restoration and maintenance of the citizenry. If this were done, there’d be no need to socialize medicine further, and medical costs would be significantly lowered for everyone. Won’t happen. Not in lobbyland anyway.
As for Bolton, he ought to be an organ donor. Now. Along with most of the BushCo.
Put ‘em to some use, I say.
I want to recommend a favorite book of mine to you, X: “The Lost Art of Healing” by Bernard Lown.
Excellent. I think you’ll appreciate it.
The pharmaceuticals have moved their drug testing to India where they can get poor people for their trials and doctors willing to sell the peasants health for a couple bucks. The one thing I agree with Bush on is not funding stem cell research with government funds but not because of some misguided family values. That would just be more government welfare for the drug companies who already are some of the most profitable bastards around and for years have been using the National Institute of Health to develop the drugs that private PHARMA then profits from.
Thinking of you, XristiM, and sending love and big hugs.
h’lo, Miz Xristi. Just wondering about you, as there have some gaping holes in some comment sections around blogosphere for the past week. I hope all is well with you.
Jean
Xristim- saw the news over at WT’s that you were in the hospital. You’ve been missed and you are in my thoughts. Sending you bouncy, barky, fluffy and squawky energy from me and my critters.
Hang in there XristiM.
Don’t let those troublesome little cells get you down. When you have a moment, follow the link in the url above for a pic of some furry friends you might enjoy.
Dear Mme X — I hope that you are feeling better and regaining your strength. Your voice is being missed by many. Have a good Christmas and be assured that this comes with all my very best wishes for 2007.
e
Xristi -
We are thinking of you here at Tengrain’s little hut, and Thurber J Wolf sends his best regards to Miss Betsy Trotwood.
Take your time recuperating - we just want to send you some luv.
Best regards,
Tengrain
Blessings to you, Xristi. You will be watching and blessing us all with your never-ending wrath, wit and wisdom.
Blessings to your family.
Godspeed, Xristi. Keep an eye on the poltroons
for us. You are already missed. Blessings to
your loved ones.
-Margie
Folks -
The Mock, Paper, Scissors Tribute to Xristi is posted. I sifted through all her comments there and compiled a “Greatest Hits.”
She was a helluva gal, and she will be missed. But I think the best way to remember her is in her own words, so I hope this helps.
Regards (and deepest sympathy to all),
Tengrain
Tengrain,
I want to the site yesterday. Thank you so much for doing the work. It was excellent.
Peacechick Mary also has a loving tribute and Sparrowchat has a beautiful poem written by our beloved Xristi.
She has a special place in my heart and mind. She won me over from the start.
The tears are beginning again.
I loved Xristi. I still do.
leslie
May your peace be eternal and wonderful, my dear friend. You will remain in my heart forever.
I was cleaning up my blog roll and sadly erased Billmon. I found myself hesitating over Gadflying, not wanting to say goodbye just yet.
Thank you Tengrain for the best hits, but thanks to leslie (?) for keeping her blog up a bit more.
Kinda like hanging out with old friends still….
It was an honor, XristiM.
Should have read the passing of XristiM more carefully. Tamsin, thank you.
Xristi - I know it’s been nigh onto a month since you did the sneakiest of shuffling off of this mortal coil, but you are so deeply missed. I am sure you have far better company where you are, but please know you made a substantial and very intelligent impact on us and for sure, me. I still look to see your comments, even though I know you are on a different plane now. Brightest Goddess blessings to you dear one, you will always be an inspiration to me. Thank you - and love,
Elspeth
Hard to believe it’s going on a year. I still come back at will. God bless!
xo Tink