Ain't That America!

Nursing Humououour

I start my mental health rotation on Monday, so of course the jokes are flying. A fellow student shared this one:

Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.

Ralph and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital. One day while they were walking past the hospital swimming pool, Ralph suddenly jumped into the deep end. He sank to the bottom of the pool and stayed there. Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom and pulled him out.

When the Head Nurse Director became aware of Edna's heroic act she immediately ordered her to be discharged from the hospital, as she now considered her to be mentally stable. When she went to tell Edna the news she said, 'Edna, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you're being discharged, since you were able to respond rationally to a crisis by jumping in and saving the life of the person you love.... I have concluded that your act displays soundness of mind. The bad news is, Ralph hung himself in the bathroom with his bathrobe belt right after you saved him. I am so sorry, but he's dead.'

Edna replied, 'He didn't hang himself, I put him there to dry.. How soon can I go home?'

Big Society and its Enemies

David Cameron has been promoting an idea: rather than looking at the State to run every service in Society, perhaps Society should look after itself without the parental supervision of the State.

Hence, Big Society - i.e., the antithesis of "Big Government".

(For the US crowd, the phrase will resonate a little too closely to Johnson's "Great Society", but the meaning is precisely the opposite.)

For those of us who are cheering on the freshmen Republicans in the House to enact the same kinds of "draconian" cuts that Cameron has, this cautionary piece in the Financial Times is worth reading:

Primary Tidbits

You know, I'm disappointed in yesterday's primary results in the Grand Canyon State.  I'm not advocating throwing the baby out with the bath water, but McCain is one of those entrenched, talk-out-of-both-sides-of-his-mouth career politicians that should be given a bus ticket home.  He's one of the deep thinkers who got us into this pickle, and I would prefer he spend the next four years yucking it up in Sun City, not *ucking it up in Washington.  I realize that JD Hayworth is no peach; he's a bit on the nutty side, and there's no doubt he's attempting to elbow his way to the public trough.  But really...could he make WORSE decisions than McCain? 

And what's up with whole "Ben Quayle for Congress, because we just haven't had enough Quayles for one lifetime" thing?  Are you kidding me?  I guess Arizonans aren't as sick of inept political dynasties as I am.

It's a shame that the voters of Arizona were faced with holding their nose as they voted.  I have a feeling that Florida voters clamped their noses with double clothespins as they pulled the lever (uh oh, I'm dating myself) for either Scott or McCollum.  Pew-y!

On the bright side, the candidate that DWT introduced us to,  Mike McCalister, captured 10% of Repub votes in the Florida primary.  Hmm, I wonder how many votes he would have received if he had been allowed to participate in the debate?  Perhaps organizers shouldn't have relied on poll numbers that put him at a scant 1%.

Should Have Won The Oscar

If you haven't seen Avatar, you're missing a fantastic movie.  It's a film for all ages and tastes, but if you enjoyed Dune, LOTR, or even ET, you'll flip over Cameron's latest creation.  It's really long (almost three hours) but we were on the edge of our seats.  We laughed, we sniffled, we cheered, and we clapped at the end.

It's good.  Really good.