Workplace abuse abounds

show appreciation

Workplace Violence PreventionOur family veterinarian sent their customer base an email letter this month. It indicated that several of their customers, many of whom had adopted animals during the COVID pandemic, had made appointments for their pets, but failed to keep them, and in large numbers. This meant that the vets had to institute a policy of requiring a downpayment for their services.

Also, the letter indicated that some of their staff had experienced workplace abuse, not from the animals but from their human companions. Unacceptable, the vet office proclaimed.

On CBS Mornings, some doctors in Idaho were uncomfortable wearing their scrubs in public, lest they rile up someone. One technician quit and took a job as a Walmart clerk. These were the groups of people who were HEROES in America not that long ago.

Recently, I was in an urgent care facility in my area that has been hammered by the number of people needing COVID tests. We were told at 4 pm that it would take about an hour to be seen, and that was about right. About 5:30, a woman came in with her son, who was maybe 8 years old. She was told that it may take as much as two hours. She started SCREAMING at the intake person. “What if my son were in need of immediate care?” She carried her son out – though he had walked in; maybe she went to an actual emergency room.

Violence against Healthcare Workers is A Worldwide Phenomenon With Serious Consequences. 

Education

From an email I received:

In Indiana, school board members were forced to flee and escape to their vehicles to escape individuals who tried to intimidate them by force.

In Idaho, school board meetings have been canceled because the school couldn’t ensure that the scheduled event would be secure and free of violence.

In Maryland, school board officials began receiving violent and personal threats from individuals in retaliation for supporting the wearing of masks.

Also,  Justice Department and FBI investigating a “disturbing” uptick in violence against school employees.

Did it happen?

 The Scale of Under-Reporting is Widely Acknowledged. This predates COVID, and health care providers were the most regular targets. And I don’t know what to do, baring getting physically involved if it comes to that.

BTW, it is not just an American issue, as this  UK article can attest.

The phenomenon has redoubled my effort to try to show appreciation to what they call the front-facing workers. They are the grocery store clerks, bus drivers, retail clerks, bank tellers, the people who you meet each day.

Synthetic title songs #7: Mo-Po

Morissette, Morrison, more

Larry NormanThese are more synthetic title songs. The album name appears as a lyric, but it’s not the title song. There is no actual title song, but these can be synthetic title songs.

So Pure – Alanis Morissette. Album: Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. Lyrics: “Supposed former infatuation junkie. I sink three-pointers and you wax poetically.” Of course, I have this album.
Hands Clean -Alanis Morissette. Album: Under Rug Swept. Lyrics: “What part of our history’s reinvented and under rug swept.” (I could only find a live version.)
Moratorium -Alanis Morissette. Album: Flavors of Entanglement. Lyrics: “I declare a moratorium on things relationship” (Didn’t find a video.)

In The Garden – Van Morrison. Album: No Guru, No Method, No Teacher. Lyrics: And I turned to you and I said, No Guru, no method, no teacher.
Cypress Avenue (live) – Van Morrison. Album: It’s Too Late to Stop Now.
Queen of the Slipstream – Van Morrison. Album: Poetic Champions Compose : Lyric: “There’s a dream where the contents are visible Where the poetic champions compose” I have this on vinyl.

It Can’t Happen Here – The Mothers of Invention. Album: Freak Out! Lyrics: “Who could imagine that they could freak out somewhere in Kansas” or “in Minnesota” or “in Washington D.C.” or “in the suburbs”

Sweetheart – Maria Muldaur. Album: Waitress in a Donut Shop. Lyrics: “I’m a waitress in the donut shop.” I love this song.

Starlight – Muse. Album: Black Holes and Revelations. Lyrics: “Our hopes and expectations Black holes and revelations.”

Merry Go ‘Round – Kacey Musgraves. Album: Same Trailer, Different Park. Lyrics: “Same hurt in every heart Same trailer, different park.” A country song I actually know.

N

Fine Time – New Order. Album: Technique. Lyrics: “You’ve got lurve technique.”

Sadie – Joanna Newsom. Album: The Milk-Eyed Mender. Lyric: “And down where I darn with the milk-eyed mender”

Gave Up – Nine Inch Nails. EP: Broken. Lyric: “Covered in hope and vaseline, still cannot fix this broken machine.”

Reader’s Digest – Larry Norman. Album: Only Visiting This Planet. Lyrics: “Don’t ask me, I’m only visiting this planet.”
Nightmare #71 – Larry Norman. So Long Ago the Garden. Lyrics: “But we left it so long ago, the garden.”
The Rock That Doesn’t Roll – Larry Norman. Album: In Another Land. Lyrics: “Then he lead me to his kingdom, that was in another land.”
The Sun Began To Rain – Larry Norman. Album: In Another Land. “Now we’ll live forever in another land.”
Hymn To The Last Generation – Larry Norman. Album: In Another Land. Lyrics: “He will guide us in another land.”

Fair Weather – Julia Nunes. Album: Settle Down. Lyrics: “And they say, Julia just settle down.”

O

Morning Glory – Oasis. Album: (What’s the story), Morning Glory. My only Oasis album.
To Be Where There’s Life – Oasis. Album: Dig Out Your Soul. Lyrics: “Dig out your soul, cos here we go.”

The Charm Offensive – Oceansize. Album: Everyone Into Position. Lyrics: “And it burns, it burns us all out As it blows Everyone into position.”

Irish whiskey pretty girls – Old 97s. Album: Graveyard whistling. Lyrics: “I never was good at talking. Graveyard whistling’s more my thing

She’s A Mystery To Me  – Roy Orbison. Album: Mystery Girl. Lyrics: “She’s a mystery to me. She’s a mystery girl.” I have this album.

P

Best Of Both Worlds – Robert Palmer. Album: Double Fun. Lyrics: “The best of both worlds. Double fun”

You Can’t Be Too Strong – Graham Parker. Album: Squeezing Out Sparks. Lyrics: “But everybody else is squeezing out a spark That happened in the heat.” I have this on vinyl.
Empty Lives – Graham Parker and The Rumour. Album: The Up Escalator. Lyrics: “On the up escalator going down all the cracks” I’m pretty sure I have this on vinyl as well.

I Can Tell – Michael Penn. Compilation: Palms and Runes, Tarot and Tea. Lyrics: “Psychic on the corner. ‘Palms and Runes, Tarot and Tea'”

Train Song – Pentangle. Album: Basket of Light. Lyrics: “Caught in the basket of light.”

Insider – Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, featuring Stevie Nicks. Album: Hard Promises. Lyrics: “And I had to live with some hard promises.”

One Slip – Pink Floyd. Album: A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Lyrics: “A momentary lapse of reason That binds a life for life.”
High Hopes – Pink Floyd. Album – The Division Bell. Lyrics: “The ringing of the division bell had begun”

Great Spirit – Robert Plant. Album: Fate of Nations. Lyrics: “The fate of nations and of all their needs Lies trapped inside these hearts of greed.” I own this CD.

Lovin’ Arms– Poco. Album: Head Over Heels. Lyrics: “Now you got me stumblin’ Head over heels”

Roofer’s Union Fight Song – Robert Pollard. Album: Not In My Airforce. Lyrics: “Only ‘No Ones’ get through the gate …not in my airforce.”

Solar Sister –  The Posies. Album: Frosting on the Beater. Lyrics: “Frosting on the beater The flag trips down the meter.”
Chainsmoking in the U.S.A. -The Posies. EP: Nice Cheekbones and a Ph.D. Lyrics: “There’s two faces on the tv screen Nice cheekbones and a ph.d.” (Can’t find a video.)

All my shots: COVID #3 and more

Tdap

COVID vaccineYes, I’ve got all my shots. In the month of September, I received not one, not two, but THREE vaccines.

1. The influenza shot.- “The best time to get a flu vaccine — which reduces the risk of serious flu-related illness, hospitalization or death — is any time between September and the end of October, the CDC suggests.”

I’ve been getting the shot every year for over a decade, after getting the flu kept me in bed for about a week.

2. The Tdap (tetanusdiphtheria, pertussis) shot. As I noted here, I had stepped on a nail in 2000 in my then-new backyard and got my first shot probably in decades. I got another one in 2010. As my old pal, Diane suggested, “Sometime (around 2000) pertussis was re-instituted in the ‘adult’ Td…” Pertussis is also known as whooping cough.

But I didn’t get the shot in 2020 because my doctor, who I had seen only once that year, for my physical in September, didn’t want to subject me to two sore arms. This year, I was given a choice; two sore arms now, or come back later. I opted for the former. And it wasn’t bad at all.

Booster

3. A third “booster” dose of the Pzifer vaccine

I had briefly struggled with whether I, as an entitled American who can readily receive the shot, should get a third dose. Much of the world hasn’t been able to get any vaccine.

The conversation in my head sounded rather like when I was a little kid and told to eat the beets (canned beets were AWFUL). Some parents, I don’t think mine, would say, “Eat these because there are people in China who are starving.” And the kids’ retort would suggest that they’d gladly send their veggies to Peking.

Of course, that wasn’t and isn’t physically possible. The current administration is dedicated to buying and sending vaccines abroad. But as this CBS News story about Lesotho notes, “Battling COVID in Africa takes more than vaccines. It takes ‘flying doctors,’ and even they need help.” If I thought my third shot was taking away someone else’s first shot, I would have gladly forgone it.

Musing

Ultimately, I decided to get the extra dose because of the news that the Pfizer vaccine, which I had received in March, appears to be less effective over time than the Moderna. And I’m over 65 and overweight, plus over 700,000 Americans have died of the disease, so that’s an affirmative.

I received my first two doses at a CVS about a mile from my house. This time, I went on the CVS website and found I could walk to my local pharmacy 0.3 of a mile away. They wanted a little more info this time, such as both my Medicare and my Rx insurance numbers, and telling of my reaction to the previous shots. But the process was not onerous.

No reaction to the third shot, other than a little soreness at the injection site, same as the second dose.

General Colin Powell (1937-2021)

octogenarian with multiple myeloma

Colin PowellThe first substantial story about the death of Colin Powell that I saw appeared in Common Dreams. “Colin Powell, Who Helped George W. Bush Lie Nation Into Iraq War, Dead at 84.”

Further: “It’s crucial to remember just how important Colin Powell was to selling the Iraq War, and how deliberately he used his public credibility to boost the lies that pushed us into the war. That is his biggest legacy.”

Certainly, as someone who was vigorously active in opposing the Iraq war for months before it began in 2003, I recognize the outsized role his United Nations presentation played in “legitimizing” the 2003 invasion. They never did find those weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein was supposed to have had.

Still, I’m uncomfortable defining most people over their biggest mistake. It is especially so when Powell acknowledged and regretted the speech repeatedly, calling it the biggest blunder in his career.

From Daily Kos: “Born in Harlem, New York, to Jamaican parents, Powell was a retired four-star general who served in multiple administrations. He was an icon of the Republican Party, serving as the youngest and first Black national security adviser under former President Ronald Reagan and first Black national security adviser and as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush.”

“In 2008, during then-candidate Barack Obama’s presidential run, Powell stood up to decry those who falsely called Obama a Muslim in order to discredit him… In his later years and during former President Donald Trump’s presidency, Powell began to move away from the party he had affiliated himself with for so long.”

Vaccine disinformation

It is true that Powell died of complications from COVID-19, though he was fully vaccinated. But it’s also accurate that the octogenarian was being treated for multiple myeloma, cancer that forms in certain white blood cells.

So when John Roberts, Fox News‘ co-anchor of “America Reports,” tweeted news of Powell’s death to promote vaccine disinformation, he was rightly blasted.

“According to… Roberts, Secretary Powell’s [breakthrough] death ‘raises new concerns about how effective vaccines are long-term,’ which is both manipulative and false, given the facts surrounding his health – namely that he was 84 and battling cancer that impacts the body’s ability to fight infections… Roughly 7,100 such deaths have been reported in the US, with 85% occurring in patients 65 and older.

“Vaccine disinformation is ‘a big reason behind low inoculation rates,’ the L.A. Times recently reported… Fox News aired claims that undermine COVID-19 vaccines on 99% of days in the last six months, according to research by progressive media watchdog group Media Matters for America. Only two days from April through September didn’t feature the sowing of doubt about the safe and effective shots.”

Couch Guy: why people are watching

shame as a tool

couch guyAs is often the case, my daughter says to me something that just doesn’t register. A few days ago, she asked “Have you heard about Couch Guy?” It is her apparent obligation to keep me up to date on cultural trends. I had no idea what/who she was talking about.

If you go on Yahoo, you can type in Couch Guy Tiktok and find the video; it’s less than a minute. It is ostensibly about a young woman surprising her long-distance boyfriend. What it became is what NBC News suggested how internet sleuthing can be toxic.

“The video, posted Sept. 21 by Lauren Zarras, shows her boyfriend, Robbie…surrounded by friends and sitting on a couch next to three other women.

“Many of the people who have commented on the video.. suggested that Robbie was, in fact, not happy to see Zarras. Some went so far as to accuse him of being unfaithful to her. Not long after it went viral, TikTokers began meticulously combing through the video…”

My first position was to be the grumpy old man and think, “Why should anyone care about this?” But as someone who recognizes that how people communicate matters, I found myself utterly fascinated. Not by Robbie, the couch guy, for whom I feel bad that people find the need to so scrutinize ten seconds of his life.

Now some folks – I found several examples that won’t bother linking to – who ‘analyzed” the video out the sense that it was hot copy, even though they thought it was a lame narrative.

However, this phenomenon – I have to say obsession – provides some odd validation for these online sleuths. Indeed, for those who have rooted out racism and violence, e.g., that is an accomplishment.

Conversely

The NBC piece discussed Morgan Forte, 23, who has “experienced what happens when it feels as though the internet has collectively decided to pick apart your life based on a seconds-long clip.

“Forte, of Jacksonville, Florida, said she posted a short video of her parents dancing a few years ago. Some claimed that Forte’s mother was acting grumpy in the clip.

“When the video blew up, getting about 15 million views across accounts that had shared it, some commenters began saying Forte’s father should leave her mother because of her demeanor in the video.” As they say, OMG.

Experienced

Producer and activist Monica Lewinsky – yes, that Monica Lewinsky – is an anti-bullying advocate. She has produced a movie called 15 Minutes of Shame which she discussed recently on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

As Rolling Stone quoted her, “’One of the factors in the film is around the idea of how shame has been used since the beginning of time as a social tool.’ With the onset of the internet and tabloid culture — the problem worsened.”

John Della Volpe reported on new polling:

1) Nearly 2/3 of Americans who use platforms believe life was better without them.
2) 42% of #GenZ addicted, can’t stop if they tried.

It’s useless to rant, “You kids, don’t you have better things to do?” For many of them, the answer is no.

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