Sick

The shiny new hospital has opened up in a neighboring town and is in the process of closing Montgomery Hospital built in 1933 in Norristown.  An article appeared today about the rememberances of the employees.  For decades Montgomery Hospital took care of the sick and injured, delivered babies, and pronounced the dead, and now it is closing.  For me, even as a relative newcomer to Norristown, I am sick that this is happening.

The new Einstein Hospital built on Germantown Pike in East Norriton is a LEED certified building with state of the art medical technology; something they say would not be able to be done at the old building.  The new hospital is attracting some of the best talent in the medical field to treat patients so the area has the potential of being a leading star in the industry and offer our residents, as well as people from outside the area, new treatments and possibly save more lives.  Of all the bragging they did with how "green" their building is, the real “green” technology would have been to recyle the old building.

While it's great to the best and brightest of everything, it’s not the need for new machinery and cutting edge techniques that caused the new operators of Montgomery Hospital to build anew.  It was the people.  Yes, they now have a new facility – and everyone loves new stuff – and it is their silent hope that the people they were used to treating at the Norristown place won’t go to their new one.  While they claim that is not the case, I strongly suspect differently.  During the discussions about the eventual closing of the hospital I attended many meetings where they presented data showing who they treated and the reason they were losing money because of it.  By presenting the data they did, they were slowly building the case for the move.  So now it is a totally done deal and Norristown will be left with a large unwanted building.  It will now be up to Norristown officials to deal with.  It is my hope that since they knew of this closing for several years they are prepared to act on it swiftly.

School Music

I read an article about our local school district and the removal of the school band program.  It is not the reason that normally everyone thinks of - lac of money - but lack of participation. That is a real shame.  Not only is music an happy part of the students life, it is important to the well being of a student.  People often don't believe that music lends anything to young people but aside from the ability to help with stress and improve their self-esteem, the study of music especially at young grades, helps the brain understand math and science concepts. 

There have been many studies that show there is a direct relation with music and math, and with the emphasis in getting more scientists and math people, music can play an important part.  It is really sad that the reason is not enough interest on the student's part.  That says something about the environment at home and in their social circles.  I thought with the popularity of the TV show, Glee, that music would have a lot of intersest, but maybe that interest is singing and acting. 

I hope that this trend doesn't continue.  Music is said to soothe the savage beast, and it also helps out the unruly student too.  A world without music would be a ver dull world indeed.

Offended

Okay, so I know this was incredibly immature and unnecessary, but I just felt like doing it.  I drove past the protesters in front of the mall yesterday and they were holding up those ridiculous signs saying how bad Obama is and how we should vote him out of office and I got so offended I gave them the finger as I drove by.  I don't know why I was so offended, I guess I was just outraged at their ignorance and the ignorance of the other Tea Party people in this world.  Yes, I know they have just as much right to be out there as I do but if they would listen to the facts and not the trash spewed on Fox News maybe they might have another opinion.

We are better off than we were 4 years ago; housing starts are up, the employment figures are up (albeit not as much as they should be).  Heck even the market is up.  Obama did a good job with the mess he was left with and a congress which was the most divisive in history.  Furthermore, I don't want a president in office who only cares about half of this country.  I don't one who flips on all the issues that are important to me.  I just can't vote for someone like that.

Maybe that's what really offends me. That these people are really willing to have a person in office who would totally turn things upside down and remove the things that we have fought so hard to implement.  But then again that's what makes this country great.  The mere fact we can have a person like that run for office in the first place.  I just hope he doesn't win.

Wardrobe Malfunction

I guess I was really tired this morning or maybe I have been dressing in the dark too long, but this morning I came in with my shirt on inside out and no one said anything.  It wasn’t until I tried to unbutton my top button that I realized my top button was inside the shirt rather than out. 

I have had incidents like this before like the time I ran out the door with one black shoe on and one brown.  It is common enough mistake when you have more than one color of a certain shoe style.  I was so embarrassed that I sat at my desk all day and practically ran to the bathroom and back when I had to go before anyone could say anything to me.  Then was the time that I was walked from my car to the building and right in front of the huge glass window that faces out from the cafeteria during the lunch hour, my slip fell off.  I was actually pretty proud of myself for not tripping over it but calmly stepping out of it and quickly bending down to scoop it up.  To this day, I have no idea if anyone saw me.  I remember a friend of mine wore a dance wrap skirt back in the day they were popular to a fancy wedding and the doorman closed a piece of it in the car door without her knowledge.  It came right off leaving her standing there in the leotard part of the outfit.  It could have been much worse.

Wardrobe malfunctions, as they are called now after Janet Jackson’s infamous boob incident do happen.  Sometimes the results are amusing and sometimes they are quite embarrassing, but happen they will.  One can only hope that the end result doesn’t leave you hanging all out there – not unless you want to be.

The Tax Man

Candidate Romney stepped in it this time, I believe with is comments said at a fund raiser in May that were release by Mother Jones. During those taped conversations, he shows his true distain for people that are not like him – basically most of America.  Those statements show that his presidency will be for the few, for the privileged, and for the minority.  In the words of Jennifer Granholm “where the cars get the elevators and the workers get the shaft.”  It really convinced me that Romney is out of touch with this country and what this country needs.

The one good thing that has come out of all of this is that the American public finally understands that yes, only 47% actually pay federal taxes and there are reasons for that.  It is somewhat easier to understand why we are in the situation we are in when you know where the revenue is coming from and why those who do pay federal taxes are stretched so thin.  But many of those people aren’t irresponsible and living off welfare and playing the system.  Many of those people are struggling to make ends meet, and many of them are our friends and neighbors. 

I ran across a list of things that our taxes pay for and the list is very extensive.  Furthermore, taxes are not all bad and are not totally there to pay for programs for the poor.  I found a great essay on what taxes pay for, and a quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt who once remarked that “Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.”  But the best example of what taxes do for us, in my opinion is found here.  After reading that, I felt so much better about why we really need to contribute our fair share to society. 

Another One Hits the Deck

Every day you turn around and there is another shooting, another home invasion, another angry person.  What is it with people these days?  Why do people resort to violence as the way to solve problems?  It saddens me that violence is often the direction people go. 

In my humble opinion the biggest reason that violence is used is due to ignorance.  But, I have heard many reasons such as poverty, high school drop outs, and drugs as a reason for violence, and I am sure many of them are good reasons.  When one is ill-educated, they can’t really think of any other way than to react; they have no experience learned or otherwise in not using violence.  That seems to tie in with the low economic status as well, but many people who are highly educated have been involved in physical altercations, so it is not clearly a one to one relationship.  Drugs certainly have a factor, especially alcohol.  We have all heard of “beer muscles” being a reason for many scuffles that come along. I am sure there are many studies out there on why people use their fists rather than their words to fix problems.

But the biggest disappointment is when they bring a gun into the equation.  Moreover, I think that in some cultures it is more accepted to swing fists or shot first and ask questions later.  At the risk of sounding sexist, violence is much more prevalent in the male species probably due to hormones and the expectation that a guy is going to stick up for themselves or be labeled a “sissy”.  It continues to be my biggest wish that people will use other methods to decide life’s problems in the future.  It is a big wish.

Officer Down

As many of you may know, Officer Brad Fox, a Plymouth officer, was shot and killed last night while investigating a traffic accident.  The article this morning talked about the incident and his family mentioning his young, pregnant wife, the fact that he did two tours in Iraq, and a little information about his K-9 partner.  Today is a very sad day for most area police departments and anyone who knows and respects officers of the law.  It was a senseless act of violence.

I was on my way home from an event in Conshohocken last night around the time the officer was shot.  I came to the intersection of Colwyn Rd and Conshohocken Road and it was blocked off.  I went down Colwyn Rd and around until I came back out on Ridge St, which eventually continues on Main St.  Conshohocken Rd was closed at that intersection as well by a police cruiser.  When I got home around 8ish, we started hearing helicopters and did so most of the night until I went to sleep.  I wasn’t sure why until this morning when I found that they had taken the officer to Montgomery Hospital which is not far from my home.

The news hit law enforcement members across the country on a memorial site for fallen officers, thanks to the digital media everyone operates on, and many from across the country have added support. A Facebook memorial page has been set up and no doubt support on both pages will grow as more stories of Officer Fox come to light, along with details about what happened. Since this is the first officer for Plymouth’s force, they are hit especially hard coming to terms with this horrible event. It is still amazing to me that within minutes of the incident, I had received a text message about the incident and when I signed onto my Facebook page later that evening, there were many, many postings about what had happened. News travels lightening fast these days and I am continually amazed at its speed.  No doubt in a very short time we will know everything, and more, about the fallen officer and the suspect.  Many will get closure with all this information, but nothing will ever replace the man who will be missed by his police family, his wife, daughter, and unborn child.  His children will never know their father thanks to a horrible, horrible man who pulled the trigger.