apparently, head injuries produce doggerel about parrots!

Apparently, head injuries lead to doggerel about my cranky parrot Zoe:

Little birdie, full of hate,
How I wonder what you ate,
Was it chicken? Ovaltine?
What exactly made you mean?
Little birdie, full of hate,
How I wonder what you ate.

HA!

One of the things that happened in the accident is that my vocal cords got damaged in the entubation and resulting aspiration. I couldn't talk right at all for a few days even after waking up and reportedly my voice was very strange. Today, I got out notes. Only a few bars singing along with iTunes but notes. Kind of wobbly and not of the best tone but notes. That's the first time since the accident.

I'm very happy now. Today is now a good day. ^_^

Cultural Warfare Update later today, sometime after I get back from physical therapy, probably this evening.

Today's Cultural Warfare Update

This is only a partial; I'll start the second half tonight and will hopefully get through it tomorrow. There's a lot of ACTION ITEMS in this one, and the local newsradio has picked up on the money being dumped into our courts races - tho' they're focusing mainly on the Supreme Court slots, of course.

But now, the news:

Decency wins out in the case of a Wiccan soldier's memorial plaque - the state pulls a technicality and takes the decision out of the Dept. of Veterans' Affairs hands. The soldier, Sgt. Patrick Stewart, was killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan;

Operation Rescue West's 2004 candidate endorsements costs it its tax-exempt status - finally;

Focus on the Family extremely cranky about the Prison Fellowship being forced to repay Iowa - they'd been being paid by the state to convert prisoners to fundamentalist Christianity, for which the prisoners got special treatment and other similar advantages;

FotF: Jim DeMint (R-SC) promises to put a hold on FDA nominee Andrew von Eschenbach unless RU-486 is pulled from the market;

Sens. Brownback and Lieberman co-sponsor a bill to study the effects "of TV, movies, the Internet, video games and cell phones on children's mental and social development";

Illinois will _not_ be facing an anti-marriage initiative on the ballot this fall;

Focus on the Family says "families win one" by getting changes in Maryland's Montgomery County sex education video;

Focus on the Family demands Senator Harry Reed (D-NV) stop bothering with polygamy and start attacking same-sex marriage;

I don't actually know much of anything about this; the FDA is talking about revisions in emergency use of non-approved drugs in certain circumstances; I haven't read the FDA's version of the story yet, but Focus on the Family is quite clear in its condemnation;

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM to back amendment to Defense Authorisation Bill essentially allowing chaplain proselytization in the military; it's a reaction to changes in military code following religious harassment at the Air Force Academy, which Focus on the Family has extensively defended; an alternative amendment would require chaplains to be sensitive to other faiths, they call that a first amendment violation;

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM to demand immediate confirmation of all Bush judicial nominees;

Focus on the Family: polls say eight states will pass anti-marriage amendments this fall;

Alliance Defense Fund suing New York State officials who ruled that out-of-state same-sex marriages should be recogised in New York State; their decisions were overturned, as regular readers know, but the ADF is going for the intimidation factor;

Focus on the Family asks Federal employees to give them money via the Combined Federal Campaign;

Americans United for Separation of Church and State sues federal Health and Human Services over grants to a "faith-based" marriage counseling centre;

Focus on the Family promotes "National Church Adopt-A-School," where churches "adopt" public schools to provide "mentoring, tutoring, and family support services";

This is a weird one; collection of fundamentalist groups demand that the Illinois state supreme court do "whatever it takes" to implement a parental notification law that was enjoined by a Federal court;

Focus on the Family claims Pope Benedict has endorsed Intelligent Design creationism;

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM to support a bundle of bills in Congress, the most important (to them) of which is PERA, which would exempt religious establishment case winners from collecting court costs from the losing side; the intent is to make it much harder to sue in government religious discrimination cases;

Focus on the Family: New York domestic-partner benefits "redefine marriage by fiat"; Alliance Defense Fund is suing, Focus on the Family applauds;

Focus on the Family: Church activism vital in fighting marriage rights for GBLT people; any church not active in politics is "not fulfilling their proper biblical role";

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM to demand permanent confirmation of John Bolton as US ambassador to the United Nations;

Faith and Family Network blasts Rosie O'Donnell criticism of American fundamentalists as being akin to Muslim fundamentalists;

Faith and Freedom Network ACTION ITEM to demand immediate passage of PERA, described above, intended to make it harder to sue against religious discrimination.

( Articles and excerpts below )

Captain Scarlet for the win; also, physical therapy continues

Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and Captain Scarlet for the win:

GOOD morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are delighted to welcome you aboard Veritas Airways, the airline that tells it like it is. Please ensure that your seat belt is fastened, your seat back is upright and your tray-table is stowed. At Veritas Airways, your safety is our first priority. Actually, that is not quite true: if it were, our seats would be rear-facing, like those in military aircraft, since they are safer in the event of an emergency landing."

(from The Economist)

(For all those people somewhat less hopelessly geeky than me: Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's original Captain Scarlet TV series had vehicles called SPVs that were high-speed/high-armour pursuit vehicles which had rear-facing seats. The driver had video screens around the seat showing a normal, front-facing view. This was specifically because they expected SPVs to crash a lot (in show) and wanted the driver and any passengers as protected as possible (in character). This is the kind of crazy wonderful obsessive detail Gerry and Sylvia put into their worlds. Hence: Captain Scarlet for the win.)

Today's (Friday's) miles: 1.1 (not counting exercise bike time at therapist)
Miles out of Hobbiton: 1316.2
Miles out of Rivendell: 851.2
Miles out of Lothlórien: 396.2
Miles to Rauros Falls: 12.8

More physical therapy for me next week. The therapist wants to do some upper-body work she hasn't been able to do because of my annoying shoulder. So we'll see how that goes. She's happy with my endurance recovery and leg strength and balance, but since nothing has been done with my arms, well... and yeah, I do actually need some help there. So there you are. Foo.