Dark Bilious Vapors

But how could I deny that I possess these hands and this body, and withal escape being classed with persons in a state of insanity, whose brains are so disordered and clouded by dark bilious vapors....
--Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy: Meditation I

Home » Archives » October 2004 » Thought for the Day:

[« YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!] [My prediction is half wrong.... »]

10/21/2004: Thought for the Day:


Babington and Brown report the appalling news that, in the midst of a flu-vaccine shortage, Dr. John F. Eisold, the attending physician for Congress, has urged all 535 members of Congress to stop by his office for a vaccination, regardless of age or physical health. This sounds very much like the sort of pampering that puts "member of Congress" in the bottom half of most surveys ranking the respect afforded various professions, just a few notches above journalists.

A press spokesman for Dr. Eisold explained to the Post that what the rest of us consider a legislative body is in fact an oversized bicameral Petri dish teeming with deadly viruses and bacteria. Members of Congress "are at high risk," he explained, "because they shake hands with a lot of people." Sensing, perhaps, that this wouldn't cut much ice with people like, say, my wife (who is immunocompromised from cancer treatments yet still waiting for her flu vaccine) or my septuagenarian parents (who waited on line seven hours in two separate places to get their vaccine), Dr. Eisold's spokesmen shifted gears and explained that the real danger wasn't that members of Congress would get sick, but that their dancing pathogens would endanger the many people they came into contact with afterward. That would include a lot of elderly people, who tend to be more politically active than younger people, and also a lot of patients in Veterans Administration hospitals, who are ideal for patriotic photo-ops because they have no means of escape. (Dr. Eisold's spokesman didn't mention the upside: sidelining scores of corporate lobbyist/fundraisers.)
--Timothy Noah [slate.msn.com]


Len on 10.21.04 @ 07:13 AM CST



[TrackBack]
New Comment
Name:
E-Mail:
Homepage:
 
 

October 2004
SMTWTFS
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      



Home
Archives
Archives of Blogger site
Email Len
Email Brock
Email Karen
RSS 1.0 FEED
Powered by gm-rss

Len's sidebar:
About Len (The uncondensed version)
Memorial to a dear friend
Frederick W. Benteen
The Web of Leonards
The St. Louis Cardinals
The Memphis Redbirds
The St. Louis Browns
The Birdwatch
Hey! Spring of Trivia Blog
BlogMemphis (The Commercial Appeal's listing of Memphis blogs)
The Guide to Life, the Universe, and Everything

Len's extended blogroll:

Brock's Sidebar:
About Brock
Boing Boing
Crooked Timber
Dispatches from the Culture Wars
Fafblog
Heretical Ideas
John and Belle Have a Blog
Jon Rowe
Letters of Marque
Literal Minded
Majikthise
Marginal Revolution
Matthew Yglesias
Oliver Willis
Pandagon
Political Animal
Positive Liberty
Signifying Nothing
Unqualified Offerings

Karen's Sidebar
About Karen
The Ig-Nobel Prizes
The Annals of Improbable Research
The Darwin Awards
EBaums World
Real Clear Politics
U.S. News Wire
Foreign Affairs
The Capitol Steps
Overlawyered
Engrish
Legal Affairs
Nobel Laureates for Change
Program On International Policy
Law of War
Sunday Times
Media Matters
Fafblog
Is That Legal?
Discourse
Andrew Sullivan
Evolutionblog
Literal Minded
Jon Rowe
Dysblog
Freespace Blog
Thought Not
Publius Pundit
Maddox
Blog Maverick
Rosenberg Blog
Crooked Timber
GreeneSpace
EdCone.com
Conglomerate
McSweeney's

The Rocky Top Brigade:


Rocky Top Brigade Sampler


A New Memphis Mafia


The liberal alternative to Drudge.

Get Firefox!



Cardinals Countdowns:
Days until pitchers and catchers report:
Your browser doesn't support Java applets.

Days until first Grapefruit League game (3/3/05; @ NYM):
Your browser doesn't support Java applets.

Days until Opening Day (4/5/05; @ HOU):
Your browser doesn't support Java applets.

Days until Home Opener (4/8/05; vs. PHI):
Your browser doesn't support Java applets.


How many visitors are here:


Blogrings/Blog indexes/Blog search:
« ? Verbosity # »




Listed on Blogwise
Popdex
Popdex Citations
Technorati
Blog Search Engine



Greymatter Forums
template by linear