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Military cargo plane practices take off
and landing
OTEC Beach - 04.feb.03
Our local paper proudly announced "Big Island Ready for War"
today. The paper didn't say what had been done preparation-wise.
We did see military cargo planes doing "touch and go"
practices today.
All things considered - I'll feel safer here than I would at home.
But, I remember how bad I felt, safe as houses in Alaska, when the
Pentagon was hit on 9/11.
Another observation from the last few months. Medicare. It is broken.
And it isn't going to get fixed as long as the government pays out
big bucks for end of life "procedures".
Mom got a useless operation - costing more than $75,000. She got
totally useless chemo at a minimum of $600 a pop. She had endless
doctor visits and consults. She would have had even more "procedures"
- but Mom's caregiver insisted that James come and authorize the
"procedures". James authorized draining some fluid from
her lungs and hospice care. Not more "procedures". Then
James and I started paying for the saintly caregivers ourselves.
Medicare doesn't pay for caregivers.
Mom could have paid for all those useless operations and chemos.
But, Mom would not have been willing to spend the money. We tried
to talk her out of the operation and the chemo. But since the procedures
were "free" - and since Mom had touching faith in the
medical profession - well ... I fear that the taxpayers didn't get
their money's worth.
<YESTERDAY | TOMORROW>
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