Gonna make a prediction here - Johnson will play it safe the first half of the race and lay back to stay out of the bumping and 3 and 4-wide racing. However, during the second half of the race, he will start working his way forward and WILL get caught up in a multi-car wreck and finish poorly. This will open the door for Mark Martin to get back into the title hunt. Also, Tony Stewart's Chase luck will change. He'll get a top 5 and be right back in the hunt, too. Think I'm right ?? Or, do you I'm nuts and Johnson will escape 'Dega's "big one" and basically wrap up his fourth straight title ?? Or, could Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finally get his act together and win one ?? Watch and see on Sunday at noon EST on ABC.
I did not do a review of the October 18th Three Rivers episode. However, just minutes after this week's (October 25th) episode started, I knew that episode 4 would be a special one. It started off with Dr. Vablonski in the room of a very sick patient. The diagnosis was that he only had days, a week at most to live. He was a 36-year old man whose loving wife was at his side begging and praying for him a new heart. Why was this different from the previous 3 episodes ?? It was because this man was exactly where I was 3 years ago and it brought everything rushing back. It was exactly 3 years ago this coming weekend that I was in the hospital and my wife and I were told by my cardiologist that he had done all he could do. He said without a heart transplant, I would likely be dead in a year. God is good. I had my transplant about 4 months later and ..... I'm still here.
Now for the Three Rivers review. I'll use the same three criteria I used in the previous reviews.
truth - based upon my personal experience, the portrayal of what transplant patients experience pre-, during, and post-transplant was accurate. Grade - A.
realism - again, based upon my own personal experience, this episode is as real as it gets. The only thing I might take issue with is all the fancy technology that's used - i.e. the large flat screen monitors that are everywhere. I've never seen those, but it's possible they could be used in newer, more technologically advanced hospitals. But, I don't know for sure one way or the other. So, I won't figure it into the grade. Grade - A.
positive potrayal of organ donation - CBS nailed it this week !! It was a tragic episode with the school bus accident involving the high school football team. Several of the players and the bus driver died in the crash. However, CBS did a superb job of showing how joy and hope can come from tragedy. The football team's star quarterback died in the accident but was an organ donor. His father says, "They tell me he's gonna save 8 lives. That's my son." Even in tragedy, this father was bragging on his son because he had helped people. This is the EXACT message that the organ donation cause needs conveyed all the time. Grade - A+++++.
BEST PART OF EPISODE - the way the Three Rivers staff cares for their patients. You get the feeling that they will do anything and everything it takes to save their patients. I love that.
WORST PART OF EPISODE - none. CBS finally took out what's been my biggest gripe -putting things in the show that have nothing to do with organ donation. There was nothing like that this week. Thanks CBS.
Overall, the October 25th episode gets an A+. I thought CBS finally hit the home run I had been waiting for. I hope it continues. It was tough to watch at times, too. The 36-year old man waiting for a heart brought back some bad memories of blue and cold hands and feet, chronic fatigue and weekness, shortness of breath, struggling to breathe when lying down to sleep, and a feeling of hopelessness. However, the joy this man's wife showed when told that a heart was available for him was the same that I saw on my wife's face when I woke up for the first time after the surgery. That memory is priceless and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
My hat's off to them because that's 1000 kid's lives saved and 1000 families blessed with additional, precious time with them. I hope they do at least a thousand more.
Congratulations !!! You didn't lose this weekend. Yeah, I know you didn't play but I'm just trying to be positive. You gotta start somewhere, right ?? What is your record anyway ?? 0-5 ?? 0-6 ?? But who's counting, right ?? Even the Browns and the Lions have a win. It's hard to believe that you still have not won a regular season game since "the towel incident" last year. You've lost 7 regular season games in a row. My offer is still open as far as you guys offering me an apology. However, I also realize that may not be an attractive option for you. So, out of the goodness of my heart, I thought I'd make a suggestion. We'll call it plan "B".
Denver and Indianapolis are 6-0. Mr. Obama has been preaching redistribution of wealth and giving banks and car companies bailouts. So, why doesn't Bud Adams give him a call and request a bailout for you guys ?? Obama could even do a little wealth redistribution in the process. He could take 2 wins from Denver and 2 from Indianapolis since they're undefeated and give them to you guys. Then he could take 4 of your losses (dang, that's a lot) and give 2 of them to Denver and 2 to Indianapolis. That way you, Denver, and Indianapolis are all 4-2 and you would even be in a first place tie with Indianapolis. It evens helps San Diego because then they are only one game behind Denver. Wouldn't that be great !!! Who cares what Denver and Indianapolis think anyway ?? They'll just have to learn to go along and do what's best for everyone. Right ??
Hope this suggestion is helpful and good luck this Sunday against the Jaguars. Haven't they already embarrassed y'all once this year ??
Here's an interesting story from KITV.com in Hawaii (http://www.kitv.com/health/21278274/detail.html). It's the story of one man who's serving a 10-year sentence for selling drugs and another who is a police officer and in need of a kidney transplant. The irony of it is that the con donates a kidney to the cop and saves his life. Their connection - they're brothers. I guess in this case, blood is thicker and stronger than the legal system.
A friend of mine forwarded this story to me the other day. It appeared in The Turlock Journal (http://www.turlockjournal.com/news/article/1355/) and tells about students at California State University competing with other schools across the country to sign up more organ and tissue donors in hopes of saving lives. The winner will receive a trophy from Donate Life.
Of the 103,000+ Americans currently on the national waiting list for a life-saving organ transplant, 20% of them are Californians. Sadly, about 18 Americans die everyday while on the waiting list for one reason - not enough people are signed up to be donors. That's 18 too many - period.
By now, you've heard the report last week where New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hired and sent a team of "investigators" into the states of Tennessee, Ohio, and Nevada. They went into seven gun shows in those states conducting an undercover investigation to see if gun dealers would sell guns to ineligible people without conducting a background check. You can see for yourself what they found on this video.
I will say that in this video Bloomberg lays out the gun laws accurately except for one thing - there is NO gun show loophole. Any time someone purchases a gun from a dealer they must first pass a background check. It does NOT matter whether the transaction is completed in the dealers store or at a gun show. However, private individuals can legally sell one of their own firearms at any time without conducting a background check. Once again, it does not matter where the transaction is completed. The so-called "gun-show loophole" is a term constantly thrown around by the liberal left anti-gunners to spin this issue in their favor.
Now let me tell you about Bloomberg. He is one of the most anti-Second Amendment mayors in the country. He has a well-established record of wanting to snuff out the Second Amendment rights of Americans and he will stop at nothing to do it. When he says, "this is not about the Second Amendment," he's lying. Just to own a gun in New York City, you have to go through a ton of bureaucratic red tape to get a license before you can purchase a firearm. If someone is threatening you, they may assault or kill you before your license ever gets through the bureaucracy and you purchase the firearm for self-defense. In this video, Bloomberg repeatedly says "... the dealers broke Federal law... ". He is correct. They did - some of them. However, guess what - he and his "investigators" may have also broken Federal gun law. How ?? The Gun Control Act of 1968 section 922 (a)(3) states the following - "It shall be unlawful for any person other than a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector to transport into or receive in the State where he resides any firearm purchased or otherwise obtained by such person outside that State ...". The only exception is if the firearm in bequeathed to you. In other words, a person cannot leave their state of residence, go into another state, purchase a firearm, and then bring that firearm back into their state of residence. This only applies to handguns. Therefore, when Bloomberg's goons went into those three states and purchased those firearms, if they took those guns back to New York, and they are New York residents, then they committed felonies. Simply put, the only state an individual can legally purchase a handgun in is their state of residence. So if Bloomberg's goons were all residents of the state of New York, then New York is the ONLY state they can LEGALLY purchase a handgun in. Since they were successful on 22 out of 33 attempts, according to the video, to purchase firearms, that's 22 counts of violating the 1968 Gun Control Act. They can be sentenced to five years per count plus thousands of dollars in fines.
If all of the "investigators" were New York residents as I suspect, then not only did the mayor's goons commit 22 felonies, but I believe he may have, also. Even though I am not a lawyer, I suspect that Bloomberg himself is guilty of being an accessory and maybe of some sort of conspiracy. The Attorney Generals of Tennessee, Ohio, and Nevada and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder need to send Bloomberg and his goons a strong message by prosecuting them to the fullest extent of Federal and the applicable states' laws. However, don't expect Holder to lift a finger since he was Janet Reno's assistant during the anti-gun Clinton Administration. Lastly, before Bloomberg goes running around the country playing gun-cop and making accusations about violations of gun laws found during his "stings", he should learn the laws and keep his own nose clean first. Otherwise, he might be the one spending the time in prison.
I saw this story on Thursday night's 10 P.M. edition of News Channel 5. (http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=11323346). The owners of Psychic Readers in Gallatin, TN have been arrested for scamming a woman out of $45,000. They told her that she was cursed, her money was the problem, and that they needed to clean it up for her. The authorities believe they may have done this before. Surprise, surprise.
Now, here's my question - if they were truly "psychic" and knew all this about the victim's problem, shouldn't they have also known that they were gonna get caught and needed to take some sort of evasive action ?? I'm just asking. It's not like I'm psychic or anything, but maybe these two should actually quit their day job. What do you think ??
Three Rivers second episode aired this past Sunday night October 11. It is the new medical drama about life at a transplant hospital in Pittsburgh. The premiere got mixed reviews. I personally thought episode 2 was better and I graded it based on the following :
truthfulness - for the most part I thought this episode was truthful and accurate. The only part where this could be questioned is where they transplant lungs from a donor killed in a car accident. These lungs were damaged in the accident and were given to a young girl who needed a double lung transplant. The rational of Dr. Vablonski in giving them to her was that she was gonna die without them and no other transplant center would take them because of the damage. Would this have been done in real life ?? I don't know but I guess it is possible considering that the damaged lungs were better than what she had. Grade - B.
realism - overall, this episode was pretty realistic, too. However, it appeared that the mother of the donor from the car accident met the young girl mentioned earlier just days after the double-lung transplant. Normal protocol is for donor families and recipients not to meet until at least a year after the transplant. It is possible for them to meet earlier and it does happen but its not the norm. Grade - B.
positive portrayal of organ donation - I thought CBS did very, very well in this area this week. The scene with the family care representative mentioning organ donation to the mother of the young man who was tragically killed in the car accident was done very, very well. The mother was treated curteously, compassionately, and with respect. In fact, she said that organ donation was something her son would want to do because he was always helping people. This was right on. Bravo CBS !! This is truly what organ donation is all about - helping others. CBS gets an A+ here.
BEST PART OF THIS EPISODE- Dr. Vablonski's treatment of his patients. He goes out of his way to help the young girl needing the double-lung transplant and is determined to not let her die. I have been blessed with doctors like this but know of people who have not. We need more Dr. Vablonski's today.
WORST PART OF THIS EPISODE- the storyline regarding the man who needs heart surgery and his relationship to his son. They have been estranged for several years but they begin healing their relationship. Unfortunately, the man has a massive stroke and dies. Don't get me wrong, I thought the whole reconciliation story and the way Dr. Vablonski cared for this man was great. However, what did it have to do with organ donation ?? Absolutely nothing. Should have been left out.
Overall, I'll give CBS a B+ for this week's episode. The show seems to be getting better. Let's hope it continues. As I said last week, if they get it right it can go a long way toward saving lives and that's what's most important. Episode 3 is this Sunday October 11th on CBS 9 P.M. eastern and 8 P.M. central.
Today we'll wrap up the ACORN series by talking about their scandals and controversies. There are a number of them and some are truly shocking.
Voter registration fraud - ACORN generated over 1.3 Million voter registrations during the 2008 election season in 21 states. A number of ACORN's employees have been charged with voter registration fraud and fired by ACORN as "rogue" employees. ACORN has also been charged with having a quota system where employees were paid based upon the number of voter registrations obtained. Amazingly, it appears that this quota system may have encouraged ACORN employees to submit fraudulent forms. The more they submitted, the more they got paid.
Home Defender program - ACORN has encouraged people whose homes have been foreclosed on to engage in civil disobedience against the foreclosure eviction process by refusing to leave and even moving back in. Basically, this program has encouraged people to break the law.
Housing crisis - The 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) made it easier for individuals with low to moderate incomes to obtain home loans. ACORN "negotiated" with banks to get them to offer sub-prime mortgages to individuals who otherwise might not have qualified. According to some, this may have played a role in the current housing crisis and recession.
Unions - in 2003, ACORN laid off two employees who were in negotiations with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to organize a union within ACORN. The National Labor Relations Board ordered that the employees be reinstated and that ACORN cease union-busting activities. Interestingly, ACORN and the SEIU are now best buddies who work together on a variety of issues including health care and the minimum wage. In fact, the SEIU donates millions to ACORN every year and even shares office space with them.
Dale Rathke - the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke embezzled nearly $1 Million from ACORN and affiliated charities. The matter was handled internally. Dale was dismissed and Wade stepped down as chief organizer. Dale served no jail time. Instead, a restitution agreement was reached. Two members of ACORN's board of directors then filed a lawsuit asking for financial disclosures. They were then removed from office leading to allegations of a cover-up.
Barack Obama - got his start as a community organizer with ACORN. Obama and others served as local counsel for ACORN in a 1995 voting rights lawsuit. His campaign then paid ACORN $800,000 to conduct a get-out-the-vote campaign for the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary prompting some to make conflict of interest accusations. These accusations combined with charges of voter fraud led to questions about the accuracy of the 2008 presidential election results.
The undercover videos - in September 2009, a series of videos was made public showing ACORN employees advising a pimp and a prostitute on how to commit tax fraud and smuggle underage girls into the country to be prostitutes. ACORN is currently involved in lawsuits against the filmmakers. The videos led to the U.S. House and Senate voting to cut off all ACORN funding and the Census Bureau terminated plans to have ACORN participate in the 2010 census.
I'm sure along the way ACORN has done some good things to help the poor and other disadvantaged individuals. However, the organization has a controversial past and some questionable affiliations which leads to the question - why were they receiving taxpayer funding in the first place ??
Today, I was gonna finish up this week's ACORN series, but when I saw the news this morning I decided to postpone the ACORN finale in honor of the Community Organizer in Chief's "wonderful" award. The Nobel Peace Price is supposed to be a prestigious award given "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses" (from Wikipedia). Today, the award's prestige crashed like the housing market.
Can someone tell me exactly what Obama has done to earn this award ?? I must've missed it somewhere. Oh ... I know what is was. It's because he's cozied up to Hugo Chavez and agreed to meet with the Iranians and North Koreans without any "preconditions." No that's not it. It must be because he's playing nice with the Russians and hanging our European allies out to dry by scrapping the missile defense shield. Or, could it be because he bowed down to the King of Saudi Arabia and made himself look like a wuss to appease the Arabs ?? Naw, that couldn't be it, either. It was because of his "2009 Obama Apology Tour" where he traveled to various countries apologizing for all the many ways the U.S. has saved their butt through the years. You know, like when in WWII we kept France and the rest of Europe from having to learn German. That has to be it. Thanks to his tour, everyone loves us now so they gave him an award.
Yes, I know I may have overdone it a little on the sarcasm today. I couldn't help it. I just don't know what came over me. I guess it's just the fact that the Nobel Peace Prize is the latest thing to "change" into an Obamination.
Today is part 2 of ACORN and we'll talk about the organization's affiliations. There's a number of them and they are all liberal activist organizations or individuals.
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) - this group's name is a oxymoron. It was made up of a number of different factions and most people would not refer to any of them as "Democratic." A more fitting descriptor would be Socialist. They encouraged draft dodging, raided draft offices, and participated in multiple protests against the Vietnam War with some of them turning violent. They criticized U.S. foreign policy and it's condemnation of the U.S.S.R. They were anti-big business and anti-labor union. The opposition to labor unions is interesting considering that one of ACORN's closest allies currently is SEIU (Service Employees International Union).
Weather Underground - this group was a violent faction within the SDS and began in 1969 (same time Wade Rathke formed ACORN in Arkansas). It was made up of the leadership and supporters of SDS and co-founded by Bill Ayers who was involved in bombings at the NYPD headquarters, the U.S. capitol, and the Pentagon. Tragically, while one of the group's bombs was under construction, Ayers girlfriend was killed because it detonated prematurely. Eventually, the group's leadership took over SDS. They were known for being anti-imperialistic, feminist, sympathetic toward the Black Panthers, and for bombing banks and government buildings. Usually, these bombings were proceeded by warnings and often were a means of protesting the Vietnam War.
Barack Obama - Obama got his start as a community organizer. He directed Illinois' Project Vote, the voter registration arm of ACORN. Some have even referred to Obama as Community Organizer in Chief. Obama's ties to ACORN go deeper than that, though. It has been reported that he was a friend and neighbor of Bill Ayers and even gave a speech at Ayer's home while campaigning for Illinois' state senate.
Why is all this important ?? Because Mr. Obama said that ACORN and groups like them would help shape the agenda once he was in the White House. See it for yourself in this video.
Are these organizations with these agendas really who we want running our country ?? Tomorrow, I'll tie all this together in part 3 - scandals and controversies.
The remainder of this week will be devoted to talking about a group known as ACORN - The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. If you get your news from ABC, NBC, or CBS you probably have not heard much about ACORN if anything at all. However, if you watch Fox News you've heard plenty about them.
ACORN was founded by Wade Rathke in 1970. Originally, it was known as the Arkansas Community Organizations for Reform Now when the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO) sent Rathke to Little Rock as an organizer. He had previously worked for Students for a Democratic Society promoting draft dodging before founding ACORN to aid welfare recipients. By 1975, ACORN began expanding out of Arkansas and growing into a national organization.
Since its inception, ACORN has been involved in a number of "social justice issues" including neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, and improving housing for low income individuals. Their primary means for improving housing has been through demanding enforcement of the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act which was signed into law by Jimmy Carter. We'll talk more about that later. They've also worked to improve wages, for better schools and education, more community investment from banks and developers, and gun control. Generally, they pursue their goals through demonstrations and community organizing, lobbying, negotiation, and other methods.
Now you know the basics about ACORN. It started from humble beginnings with a basic goal - helping the poor. However, through the years ACORN has grown into a massive machine with with an annual budget of over $100 Million and its hands in a number of social issues championing liberal causes. Many would say the organization is now out of control. In recent months, a number of controversies have arisen involving ACORN from its radical leftist affiliations to allegations of criminal activity to receiving taxpayer funding. Tomorrow, I tell you about some of the affiliations.
The new medical drama, Three Rivers, premiered on CBS this past Sunday night, October 4th. Myself and others in the transplant community have waited for it with hopeful optimism. In the past, Hollywood has tried to promote organ donation positively but has not quite got the job done. We've hoped this time would be different.
I was looking for three things when watching Three Rivers : 1) truth, 2) realism, and 3) a positive potrayal of what organ recipients and donor families experience. Most important was that donor families be treated with respect and as heroes. They deserve no less. I will grade the premiere with those criteria.
Truth - based up my transplant experience, the experiences of other recipients I've met since my transplant, and based upon what I've heard from donor families, I did not notice anything untruthful in the shows premiere. For that, it gets an A.
Realism - based upon my own transplant experience and my own research, there was at least one part of the premiere that was unrealistic. A pregnant woman needed a heart transplant and received one immediately after she was told she needed it. In the real world, this is not realistic. The average wait for a heart is four months. Also, after this woman's transplant, the ventilator had already been removed when she awoke. After my transplant, the first time I awoke I was still on the ventilator and I had to be slowly weined off. This process took about 12 hours. On realism, the best I can give CBS is a C.
Positive potrayal of organ donation - probably the most important of the three things I was watching for and CBS did a pretty good job. Much better than what Hollywood has done in the past. I particularly liked how CBS dealt with one of the myths that we organ donation advocates deal with all the time. Many people refuse to be organ and tissue donors because they believe that medical personnel will let them die in order to recover their organs if they sign up to be an organ donor. That is simply not true. One of the characters, Ryan Abbott, told the daughter of a donor that everything was done that could be for her father and organ donation ONLY became an option after they exhausted all means of saving him. Here, Hollywood got it right. Thanks Hollywood. However, earlier in the show, the same Ryan Abbott character, who was a member of the organ recovery team, came in contact with this same girl and chastised her when she expressed misgivings about allowing her father to be a donor. First of all, the recovery team does NOT have contact with the donor family, and second, donor families MUST always be treated with respect. They deserve no less. I did not like this at all. I would give CBS an A on "positiveness" but because of this, I'll have to mark them down to B-.
BEST PART OF PREMIERE - line of Dr. Lee where he said referring to organ donation, "it must be a gift."
WORST PART OF PREMIERE - the storyline about the boy who swallowed metal. What did this have to do with organ donation ?? Should have been left out completely. Irrelevant and served no purpose.
Overall, I'll give the first episode of Three Rivers a C+ or B-. Some of it was very, very good, but some things could have been either left out or done better. Episode 2 is this coming Sunday, October 11th at 9 PM EDT / 8 PM CDT. I'll be watching for the same three things and hoping that CBS knocks it out of the park this time. Why ?? Because CBS and Hollywood have a great opportunity with this show. If they get it right, it can translate into many, many Americans deciding to become organ and tissue donors and many, many more getting the same second chance I got. That's what's truly important - saving lives. Let's all pray they get it right.
First of all, let me offer my deepest condolences on your stinging 37-17 loss to the Jaguars yesterday. In the words of Bill Clinton, "I feel your pain". It's the same pain I felt when you treated me poorly by stomping and wiping your snotty noses on my back the last time I visited Nashville. I really felt like that was unnecessary.
It dawned on me last night when I saw how Jacksonville embarrassed you that YOU HAVE NOT WON A SINGLE REGULAR SEASON GAME since you abused me last year. I guess it's true - what goes around does indeed come around. Maybe you should consider making a public apology to myself and the Steelers. It might help your predicament. Your sorry talent level and poor coaching sure won't.
Congratulations to the lucky five for winning the contest and on their transplants. I hope and pray that each of them is blessed with a long, happy, and productive life. Also, on behalf of transplant recipients everywhere, I want to say a big, big thank you to Astellas for all that they do on behalf of us transplant recipients to help us live long healthy lives.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visits Talladega this weekend for the Amp Energy 500. Jimmie Johnson heads into the race with a 118 point lead over Mark Martin in the Chase for the Championship. Odds are if Johnson stays out of trouble at 'Dega, he will win his fourth straight championship.
