A Rude Intrusion :: Day 36

This is my blog for day 36 of cancer treatment, Monday, 14 Aug 2017.

I'm back at it today. Radiation at 2:15 PM. Tim took Nancy to her treatment this morning. Jan is picking me up at 12:15 PM, then it's on to the post office, treatment and, finally, waiting to bring Nancy home.

I stepped on the scale at the radiation treatment today, finding that I'd lost 2 pounds. The doctor and the nurse really want me to try to get at least 1800 calories each day, so I need to increase the amount of "clone feed" I'm getting to 1 1/2 boxes each feeding, of which I do three feedings. And I need to eat high-calorie foods, if I can, to supplement the clone feed.

Tonight I made some Progresso mushroom soup, a cream soup, some 300 calories worth. I ate most of it, but not all of it. I still need to hang the feed and send it through my G-Tube, but at least I ate something.

I feel like I have to say something about this weekend's violence in Charlottesville, VA. Who were the protesters? Neo-Nazi's, White Supremacists and the KKK. Let's think about this for a minute.

Nazi's? Didn't we (and our allies) destroy the Nazi's in World War II because that fascist regime attempted to take Europe and North Africa by force of arms? Didn't that regime murder over 6 million Jews, Gypsies, the disabled, Soviet POWs and political prisoners? If you include Soviet civilians the death toll rises to 17 million. Who wants to see a return of the Nazi party?

White Supremacists believe that whites only should rule the United States and that all other races should submit to this. They often protest the removal of Confederate monuments, as their ideology started during the Civil War, ran through reconstruction and was evident in the Jim Crow laws in the southern United States. They feel slighted because their heroes are no longer celebrated. But didn't these heroes - Generals Robert E Lee, James Longstreet, President Jefferson Davis, just to name a few - didn't they take up arms against the United States and attempt to secede and form a separate nation? Does anyone want to see the United States split up into two or more separate nations?

The KKK is generally a White Supremacist group, but it uses quite violent methods - murder and arson - to complete their aims. While most if their violence is set against people of color, they were not beyond killing whites when it suited their purposes. Who wants to see this group have any influence in the US?

You can protest the removal of Confederate symbols, but do it without violence.

You can dislike people different from you, but do it without violence.

If you don't like your position in the world, thinking that someone has a job or position you should have, there is an answer. Get an education and make yourself into something better. Do it without violence. Or make your case with regard to monuments by force of argument, and sway others to your side. Try to pass laws that will support your case. But do it without violence.

Violence is never an answer. I'm not saying we should all lay down and have someone kill us. There are times we need to fight back. But you can live your life without taking up arms against anything and still have a wonderful life. Didn't our Lord say "all who draw the sword shall die by the sword" (Matthew 26:52)? And "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God" (Matthew 5:9).

There are so many sides to what is going on that I cannot possibly speak to each of them. But this one I can: no violence!

Today's YouTube music is from my friend Carolyn Arends. It's a song called In Good Hands, from her album This Much I Understand - Link.

For convenience sake, here a running list of all of the links I've posted to YouTube in the past few days:

According to Plan, Carolyn Arends - Link
And I Love Her - Link
Apollo 11 launch - Link
Back In You Own Back Yard, Al Jolson - Link

Because We've Ended As Lovers, Larry Carlton & Steve Lukather - Link
Blessings, Laura Story - Link
Brandy, Looking Glass - Link
Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd - Link
Cross Road Blues, Robert Johnson Link
Crossroads, Eric Clapton and Cream Link
Cry Me A River, Joe Cocker - Link
Cry Me A River, Diana Krall - Link
Dancing in the Moonlight, King Harvest - Link
Gentle On My Mind, Glen Campbell - Link
Groucho Movie Clips - Link
I'm Alright, Kenny Loggins - Link
I Love Being Here With You, Diana Krall - Link
In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening, Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman - Link
In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening, Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman, from the movie Here Comes the Groom  - Link
In Good Hands, Carolyn Arends - Link.
Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression, Part 1, An International Collaboration - Link
Limbo Jazz, Coleman Hawkins and Duke Ellington - Link
Living in the Past, Jethro Tull - Link
Lookin' At The World Through A Windshield, Bill Kirchen - Link
Montana/We Are Not Alone, Univ. of Montana Percussion Ensemble - Link
My Baby Loves Lovin', White Plains - Link

My Funny Valentine, Kristin Chenoweth - Link

My Funny Valentine, Miles Davis - Link
On The Street Where You Live, Dean Martin - Link
Powdermilk Biscuit Break, Garrison Keillor, et al - Link
Questions 67 and 68, Chicago - Link
Route 66, Asleep at The Wheel - Link
She Used To Be Mine, Sara Bareilles - Link
Shim, Sham, Shimmy (dance) to Tain't What You Do, Jimmy Lunceford - Link
Sisters, Bette Midler and Linda Ronstadt - Link
Sisters, from White Christmas - Link
Sixteen Tons, Tennessee Ernie Ford - Link
St Louis Blues, Stephanie Trick & Paolo Alderighi - Link
Standing at the Crossroads, Elmore James - Link
Starts and Stripes Forever, United States Marine Band - Link
Sweet Georgia Brown, Wynton Marsalis/Mark O'Connor - Link
That's Jazz, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong & The All Stars - Link
Time, Pink Floyd - Link
Time to Blow, From That Thing You Do - Link
Truck Drivin' Man, Buck Owens - Link
Truck Drivin' Man, the Don Kelley Band - Link
Truck Drivin' Man, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen - Link
War, Edwin Starr - Link
Your Love Is My Saving Grace, Kristin Chenoweth - Link
Zappa Medly, George Duke - Link