#WhyImNotVotingForRomney

I saw the hashtag on Twitter and just had to use it. But since I didn't want to issue a bunch of individual tweets, I decided to put it all on here...well, maybe not everything, but as much as I can think of right now.

I'm sick and tired of the Republican party in general.

I'm sick and tired of the extremist, racist segments which have taken firm control of the Republican party -- the Tea Party and the religious right (aka the American Taliban). Even if Mitt Romney is not in fact a racist or a religious extremist, he has encouraged and emboldened the racists and religious extremists with his words and actions, making him no better.

I'm sick and tired of the wealthy and the large corporations getting more and more tax breaks that they do not need, and reduced regulation in so many areas, while the rest of us find our lives becoming more and more of a struggle every day. Mitt Romney will continue the tax cuts for the wealthy. In fact, as it was reported yesterday, it seems that Mitt Romney may not have paid a single penny in taxes for the years 1996 through 2009. NOT A SINGLE FUCKING PENNY. FOURTEEN YEARS.

I'm sick and tired of not having the same rights as everyone else because of my sexual orientation, and of having a woman's right to control her own body being restricted or completely removed, and having Planned Parenthood and other agencies that provide quality health care services threatened, all due to the influence of the American Taliban. Romney has thrown in with the American Taliban on these issues.

I'm sick and tired of the lack of affordable quality health care for everyone. I'm sick and tired of the efforts to stop health care reform, when we've finally begun to make progress after decades of failure. Not only has Romney thrown in with the Tea Party extremists, he's going against the health care reforms he pushed for while Massachusetts governor. This is not leadership -- this is hypocrisy and gutlessness.

I'm sick and tired of hearing about how jobs aren't being created because taxes aren't low enough, and how Barack Obama didn't do anything to fix the economy. Taxes for the wealthy were cut during the execrable George W. Bush presidency and somehow we ended up with many fewer jobs and the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. Why didn't the "job creators" create jobs with the windfall profits they received then? Why does anyone think they'll do it now? And while the economy is still in bad shape, all the indicators show it's beginning to recover. And it would have begun sooner had it not been for the Tea Party extremists in Congress who have spent the last four years doing nothing but blocking any legislation supported by Obama, because their ONLY goal for the last four years has been to do everything possible to make sure Obama wasn't reelected.

I'm sick and tired of the GOP still trying to paint Barack Obama as weak on foreign policy and terrorism. If the death of Osama bin Laden isn't enough evidence to the contrary, Mitt Romney proved with his blundering excursion to London during the Olympics that he has about as much expertise in foreign affairs as Paris Hilton.

I'm sick and tired of the Tea Party extremists and American Taliban's complete repudiation of science. Whether in fighting against stem-cell research or regulations to improve the environment and lessen the effects of climate change (unthinkable, especially after the unprecedented strength and path of Hurricane Sandy) or teaching "creationism" instead of evolution in schools, there's no excuse for this utter stupidity.

And, because it just seems to need to be said, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.

It's very simple: unless you're a wealthy, white, heterosexual male, or a racist, there is simply no reason to vote for Mitt Romney. He is NOT on your side. His policies will NOT make your life better. Only a complete moron would think otherwise.

Leg Update, Plus...

It doesn't look like this now

So this morning I was at the surgeon's office about my leg. Basically, we're doing nothing. The doctor feels it is continuing to heal on its own. He said the ultrasound I had last month indicated I'm having a girl the area with fluid measured only about an inch and to him it looked smaller than that today. He also said that if he did an incision to drain fluid it might prolong the healing process or make my leg worse. Since it doesn't bother me or impede me in any way, and there's no danger of a blood clot or anything like that, for now we're just going to let it go on clearing up. I can always go back if it does get worse somehow.

Meanwhile, something important has happened (that I tried to post to Twitter and Facebook this morning but the text disappeared, like my Outfest videos, into the Ether of Technological Incompetence). Before the doctor saw me, my vitals, height, weight, etc. were checked. And either I've been incorrectly measured my entire adult life, I was mismeasured today...or I've grown a half-inch taller, to 6 feet 1 1/2 inches. So now I'm going to say I'm 6' 2." Sounds a little more impressive, eh?

Travel And Leg Updates

So I'm headed off to San Francisco this evening for a week to take care of the stuff I have to do regarding my dad's estate. I did buy a new laptop but I'm not sure I'll have time to actually write any blog posts, so this may be the last one until I return.

As for my leg, I have an appointment to see a surgeon on October 11th. As I mentioned in my last post, I was concerned that my leg might get worse during my trip without any further antibiotics. My doctor said I should be fine as long as I don't develop a fever. I have an old digital thermometer, but it's very old and I wasn't sure how reliable it is so I bought a new one. I'm going to carefully monitor my temperature to make sure it's okay. Here's a question, though: the last three days I've taken a reading with both thermometers. The old one has registered a temperature that's 0.4 or 0.5 degrees higher than the new one. Is it safe to assume the new one is the more accurate one? That's the one I'm taking with me.

I went for the ultrasound and x-ray. They asked me if I wanted to have a report sent to the doctor, or if I wanted them to give me films or a CD of my x-rays. How the hell am I supposed to know??????? I finally decided to take the CD because it would be easier to carry. So they burned my x-rays onto a disc. If I get around to it I may post it.

My Leg! My Leg!

So, a while back this happened...



This was about 10 days after I was hit by a smash back to the mound in my last softball game of the season. Unlike other times when I've been hit in the leg by a ball, the bruising did not fully clear up and the raised/swollen area did not go completely away after ice treatments. My doctor gave me a prescription for an antibiotic at the time. 10 days later, it was still there. I went back to the doctor and he prescribed a different (and, I assume, stronger) antibiotic. 10 days later, and it's still there. It is a little smaller in size, but there's still a raised area and discoloration.

So now I have to get an ultrasound (cue the "are you pregnant?" jokes) and an x-ray, and I'm being referred to a surgeon. My doctor thinks it may be just blood that needs to be removed or drained. He said that when he felt the bump, it doesn't feel warm to the touch compared to when he previously checked my leg, so for now I'm not taking any more antibiotics. I was concerned about this because of my trip next week, but he said as long as I don't develop a fever I should be okay. (The assistant took my temperature today: 98.3.)

And there's no pain at all. That's not even an issue. So I just have to stay alive until I get back from California.

Eye Yi Yi!

I was up much too early this morning because I had an appointment with my ophthamologist. Before we get into that, though, let's discuss our favorite public transit system.

My appointment was for 8:40 am. I got down to Frankford Terminal to catch the El around 8:10, giving me plenty of time to get to Allegheny station and either walk or take another bus to the office. However, when I got up the stairs to the El platform, there was chaos. It was filled with people waiting for a train, and some were getting quite disturbed. I got my phone and logged onto the mobile version of SEPTA's website to see if there were any advisories, and found...nothing. They have a Twitter account as well. I went on Twitter and found...nothing. (Later I checked and saw that their Twitter account hadn't been updated in 3 days until this afternoon, when there was an announcement about a book drive.) Thanks for nothing, SEPTA.

I thought about waiting to see if a train was coming from somewhere, but I saw that one of my fine Twitter peeps, PhilthyBlog (the actual blog is here) posted that he was sitting on a train that was stuck at a station for 15 minutes. So I left the El platform and caught a bus instead, and ended up only a few minutes late.

So, about my eyes...

I've been to the eye doctor's often over the last two-plus years.