Stochastic Terrorism and Right Wing Rhetoric

Although I do not believe that this is the only reason people behave in the way they do(our very unbalanced wealth in this country is another aspect of this), I do believe that we do have a very large problem with right wing rhetoric on the media dehumanizing who or what they consider "the Left". I’m not speaking about right wing as in William Buckley, Jr. type, but the lies and hysterics that are seen on TV on a daily basis at this time of our history.

The definition of stochastic terrorism is the use of communication(media) to stir up “lone wolves” to carry out the violent/terrorist acts that are statistically predictable, but individually unpredictable. Two very high profile uses of this type of terrorism would be under Hitler(radio stations which had programs that supported turning in neighbors/relatives/shop keepers for alleged “crimes”) and when Bin Laden releases a video that piques the interest of random people in the world who take up his cause and commit a bombing or other forms of violence because of “the cause”.

Both Hitler and Bin Laden could excuse the behavior of others because they did not personally tell the person to cause this terror, this mayhem, all they did was some talk, for those to take up his cause and change words into action, well….of course that wasn’t the actual idea behind it, is it? At least Bin Laden is “honest” enough to say, yep—that’s what I want.

But this term is actually the same definition for Hannity, O’Reilly, Beck, Coulter, Palin and others. And this act causes the “lone wolf” (I call them batguano crazy) to “see the light” in the lone wolf’s mind. This doesn’t mean that Glenn Beck calls the crazy directly and tells him to do something—it means he(and others) plant the idea with his off the wall hysterics and lies.

So, some definitions:

Stochastic terrorist—this is the person with the pulpit—the ones that talk about “America will turn red with the spilled blood”,  “If ballets don’t work, bullets will”, how about, “Don’t retreat, reload!” or “Second Ammendment remedies”.

All of these phrases are filled with violent rhetoric which, for 90+% of the population is only that – rhetoric. But for those unstable individuals, who already feel at least partially outcast from society, these are true fighting words.

Lone Wolf – “cop jargon” for the mentally/emotionally unstable who is usually not involved in “normal” criminal activity(as in gangs, drugs, etc.) but seems to come out of nowhere and commits a violent act or an act that is considered domestic terrorism(since many of them are citizens of the country they target). Another problem is because these people usually don’t have many, if any friends and keep to themselves and keep their plans to themselves, they don’t talk about their intentions to anyone and are harder to keep tabs on from the law enforcement community—until it’s too late.

So, how can I have the audacity to compare the right wing rhetoric with the right wing rhetoric of Nazi Germany? Or the right wing rhetoric of Father Coughlin in the 1930’s in this country? Very easily with the following acts of domestic terrorism in the last 2-3 years:

7/27/08 - Jim David Adkisson walked into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and shot nine people, killing two and wounding seven.  He said he was motivated by hatred of "Democrats, liberals, n*****s, and f****ts “. When police searched his home, they found books by Hannity, O’Reilly and Savage. He pled out to guilty(2 cts) murder-natural life sentence.

4/4/09 - Richard Poplawski shot five Pittsburgh PA police officers, leaving three dead and two seriously wounded. People who knew him said he was a birther and white supremacist and was fearful that Obama was going to take away his guns. When the police searched his computer, they found his postings on Stormfront.org  and some links to Glen Beck videos. His trial is scheduled for April 2011.

5/31/09 - another lone wolf, Scott Roeder, shot and killed gynecologist Dr. George Tiller while Tiller was attending church services with his family.  Although he asserts he was acting alone, he does have some ties to one of the anti-abortion terrorist groups, Operation Rescue(and had been arrested in the 90’s for possessing bomb making materials. At that time he claimed membership in the group, the Montana Freemen). He has been found guilty of murder of Dr. Tiller.

For months before the assassination, Bill O’Reilly had been had led a tirade against Dr. Tiller, calling him “Tiller the baby killer” 30 times(and even carried this tirade on AFTER the murder). He also wrote an article that was published on the Operation Rescue website. Of course, BS O’Reilly has denied any type of responsibility for the murder.

1/6/11 - The Tuscon shootings. Although there has not been any"proof" of the killer listening to right wing media or seeing Sarah Palin's target map, but he does have at least some of the extreme right wing's ideology(words mean nothing and living on the gold standard).

My next article will include information on the less than deadly acts of right wing terrorism that has been stoked by the hysterics of the right by the criminals themselves or people who knew them.

So, their god now has a FACEBOOK account to keep the numbers on???????

Last week, I was deluged (and these are people I know in RL!) by a link in FB:

"Ok, lets see how many True Christians there are on Facebook--press like if you believe that Jesus is your personal Savior"...or something like that.

My first reaction to this was, "How shallow", I mean...your god keeps his(and you know these people have the white male supreme being)numbers on FB? I mean, what about people who don't have a FB account? Does that mean your churches have to set up a network of computers just so computer illiterate followers can make they count???? Or are you so insecure in your beliefs that you have to scream it at the top of your lungs...sort of like those cars owned by teens that have more money invested in woofers than in cars?

Now, to be truthful, I am not a 'believer', I'm somewhere between Diest and humanist with a little bit of Pagan thrown in. It would be much easier in my life if I could just succumb to the hypnosis of "Juheeezzzzussssss is my personal savior."  I mean then I can rationalize everything by using the bible-everything is black/white -- no gray areas, I wouldn't have to think, I wouldn't have to wrestle with logic or anomolies....but I do, my makeup is to ask why? not, cuz it says so.

I guess another thing that always worries me is that many of these true believers have no problem with allowing people to die, become homeless, attack people that are different than them or believe differently--so this is what their god approves of???? And if asked about it, they'll yell about the churck is supposed to take care of widows and children(Paul's rantings--which he was speaking about specific cases). When I counter with what Jesus is alleged to say("How you treat the least of my brother is how you treat me" in Matthew while being asked by disciples how they could ever help him so they could get to heaven), they tell you that only applies to TRUE BELIEVERS....or they just walk away. In fact, they will also yell about their "rights" of religious freedom, but stample on everyone else's. Me? I really don't care who or what you believe in, and I'd defend your right to believe that--but I really doubt that most of these true believers would have enough respect to do the same for me.

But....then again....as I pondered these philisophical differences, another thought passed thru me---what if their god actually only has a twitter account and he only counts tweets??? I mean it is the newest way to keep informed and would god want last year's technology? 

Guess they're up the same stream as me.

Knee surgery-Post OP- Day One

So....I wake up while I'm being whisked into a room. The nurses tell me that the operation is over and I did well, no problems. I just can't stay awake! Its about 1:30 p.m. when I get to the room. I'm told I can have a full liquid diet and if that stays down, general diet for lunch. I have a drain in my leg and they put on a "polar cast"--which is a fabric/plastic base(looks like a leg brace) that is hooked up to a flat "hoselike" option that lays in a small ice chest. This keeps swelling and bruising down. I also have "SCD's" on my right leg--this looks sort of like shin guards that massage the leg so I have less of a chance to have problems with blood clots. I'm drifting in and out of consciousness and I also know that they are planning to have me sit up, at least today! Really?

I get the soup and that stays down so I'm cleared for a regular diet. We then try the bedpan....nope, nuthin' coming....OK, so lets try the physical therapy...they make me sit up and I'm in agony! Why torture me?!?!?!?!? So, I do sit some...and almost cry so he lets me lay down. But then! He gets a better way to torture me! Why not try sitting on the commode and then I can be in pain and still not pee! So...we do that for about 10 minutes, but it seems a lot longer! I ended up with the catheter relief that night and being told that if  couldn't go pee tomorrow, it was the Foley.....da dadum dum!

My Knee Replacement Surgery

Tuesday, December 14, 2010, I had to be at the hosptial by 7:30 a.m. Why do I wait for the last minute to get things done???? So...although I was pretty much packed, I didn't have the clothes for this day(they were still downstairs) or some of the smaller items I wanted to take with me, which I then forgot to take altogether!

I told my husband just to drop me off---because of other problems with his health, he has no days left to take and to me it seems like a waste of time to just sit and wait for 2-4 hours. The nurses agreed with me...the doctor was a bit perplexed about my reasoning, I think, but then this doctor has been preplexed with me for awhile!

He dropped me off at the front door, I went in and gave them my name, why I was there and one of the women walked me back to the Surgery area. First they sit me in this BIG chair(I told one of the staff, Bob, that I felt like Edith Ann from Lily Tomlin's skits since my feet didn't touch the ground), make sure all of my paperwork is correct, get height and weight and then off we go to the surgery waiting rooms where I meet Norma--a very friendly nurse who calls everyone "my love". Norma checks my ID again, asks which procedure I'm getting and what leg its on and then has me change out of my clothes into a beautiful, silky hospital gown.....um, no, just the regular baggy cotton one that lets your butt hang out if you're not careful. Then we settle down to wait. Now, I was told not to bring anything with me, so I didn't, but I sure could have used a book!

There was another person in the surgery waiting room who wasn't at all happy about being there...a toddler who was `crying and crying, you could hear the fear in his/her voice; just wanted to go in and pick the baby up, saying everything will be all right.

Dr. L comes in and "autographs" my left leg making sure that the correct leg is operated on...good idea. Then the PA comes in a couple of minutes later and does the same thing.

The anethesiologist(every time anyone enters the room, they ask me which leg is being operated on) comes in and tells me beside regular anth, he going to give me femoral block which helps after the surgery. Well, my great circulatory system helps out again and no femoral block! He can't find a large enough vein/artery(can't remember which one he was looking for). But he's the last guy we've been waiting on, so its showtime! I'm wheeled down the corridor to the operating room where I'm transferred to the table, strapped down and mask is put on.....I'm OUT!

Knee Replacement Surgery--Is It for You?

On December 14, I had total knee replacement on my left leg. While going through my journey, one of the predessors to getting surgery was deciding whether surgery was right for me. This is not something that a person should go into without researching the good, the bad, the ugly.

People get knee replacements is to alleviate pain and/or to balance ourselves. My pain began when I was in my teens--it'd feel like someone was stabbing me in the kneed joint with a knife...and then turning the knife in a circle. This wouldn't happen all of the time, I could handle the pain that was bad with an anti-inflammatory and some glucosomine. As I got older, I was using this more and more.

I then tried cortisone shots with good results, but I also saw the x-rays of my knees and the left one was bone on bone--no cartilage. It was going to have to be done sooner or later and I thought sooner was better. I already had to give up cycling and walking, both on my favorite lists of things to do, but I had seen what people could do after surgery.

There are 2 approaches to knee surgery; total replacement which includes putting a metal prosthesis in the top part of the knee( the femur) and a plastic prosthesis in the knee cap as well as the bottom part of the knee(the tibia).

People who are suffering from less severe arthritis may receive a Unicompartimental knee replacement. These types of replacements means that only one compartment has to be replaced instead of the whole knee.

Of course, surgery is not the first option. Anti-inflammatory, physical therapy, cortisone shots are all used in alleviating knee pain. But, as in my case, these had been used and it was time to take the step. So what are the pros and cons of knee surgery?

The Pros:

Pain Relief!
The biggest advantage to knee replacement surgery is no more pain. during the first several weeks of recovery from surgery and then physical therapy, you are able to perform normal activities without the pain you've been feeling for the past several years(in my case).

Since my surgery, I'm amazed at how much pain I can now attribute to my bad knee--I no longer have pain in my hips, my ankles, my neck and shoulders and very little pain in my back(still get this if standing for a period of time). I now actually sleep at night and don't wake up everytime I turn.

Duration

Knee replacement surgery is a long-lasting fix. Depending on your age, physical condition and lifestyle, your knee replacement at least 15 years and up to at least 30 years.

Ending Other Remedies

Before knee replacement surgery, I was going to doctors for injections every couple of months. I was also taking daily doses of Celebrex which can cause kidney and liver damage. I was also spending a lot of time and money at the doctors' and that's not any fun!

So,what's the down side?

The Cons

Cost

Any surgery is expensive. Knee replacement surgery is no exception, but it is usually covered although you may have to pay a deductible and coinsurance. My hospital bill was over $60K (and this doesn't include the inpatient rehab I opted for or the outpatient physical therapy or the surgeon).

 

Complications

One of the most common complications of knee replacement surgery is the formation of blood clots. Other dangers, although rare, include infections, nerve damage, complications from anesthesia or heart attack or stroke.Another issue is that from this day forward, when I go to get my teeth cleaned, I will have to be on antibiotics. This doesn't sound like much, but it doesn't end there.

 

Also, just because your knee is better, doesn't mean its like new. One of the things that you may not be able to do after surgery is to kneel regularly. Also, because we are dealing with steel/titanium hinge, there may be some noise. I looked at the cons and felt they were well within the realm of risks that I was willing to take.

Now, a little less than a month after surgery, I truly believe this was the best choice for me, and am looking forward to being able to ride my bike this spring. Does it work this well for everyone? No and that's why people should do the research before they schedule the surgery.l