Mere Palm Again--Loosed Upon the Media

The Kitsap Sun was kind enough to give me some space to say something I've been burning to say for some time now.  The title above is a link to my article.  
     It is, admittedly, a provocative piece, and some readers seem to have missed my point.  If I had had more space, I would have made a few points clearer.  

     Above all, I hardly think Lara Logan deserved it. She is just the latest example of something that has always bothered me.  Consider how much coverage her assault got—for three days on her network and at least one day on the others. 

    We need aggressive reporting, and for the most part, I’m a fan.  Where would we be if some unbridled reporters hadn’t shown us the gap between official pronouncements and the reality in Vietnam as well as the disconnect between ends and means?  And we really can’t blame some reporters for being as opportunistic as they are idealistic.  But I still maintain that there is a dubious moral distinction between those who get paid to kill and those who get paid to watch.  

     The 1983 film Under Fire touches on this.  A mercenary has occasion to remind a smugly judgmental photojournalist that they get paid the same way—by the body. 

     By the way, the only grievance I have with Lara Logan is that she is not provocative enough, nor is she sufficiently objective in her reporting.  My current critics would do well to remember which correspondent came out publicly in defense of General McChrystal.  It was Lara Logan.   --EFP

The Copenhagen Subway

I just placed this one in Anderbo, an online literary magazine edited by Rick Rofihe. (Click on the photo for a better view.) I took it in 2004 during a trip to Denmark and Germany. The title to this post, above, is a link to the photo in the magazine.  The editor also gave me a nice little bio blurb, which I have copied below the photo. --EFP

Edward F. Palm, originally from New Castle, Delaware, is a former enlisted Marine, a Vietnam veteran and retired U.S. Marine officer turned academic (Ph.D., Pennsylvania). He has taught at the U.S. Naval Academy and Glenville State College and has held dean appointments at Maryville University of St. Louis and Olympic College, in Bremerton, Washington. Palm is also a lifelong serious amateur photographer and an occasional freelance writer who considers photojournalism to be his "road not taken." He lives in Bremerton, Washington.

Today at the Dog Park

 
 
 

 

Around and About The Pike Place Market

These are just a few images that caught my eye Saturday at Seattle's Pike Place Market.  Click on each image for a better look.  --EFP

 

 

Phineas at the Dog Park

As usual, Phiney made friends today at the Silverdale Dog Park.  I can't run yet (see my last post), but I can take him to the Dog Park.  He needs the exercise, and I need to get out of the house.  Click on each photo for an enlarged view. --EFP

 

 

 

 

Intimations of Mortality--My Own, Recently Garnered at the Bremerton Naval Hospital

Medical College, Shunde, China, February, 2006

I first experienced a sharp spasm of  abdominal pain after running last Tuesday, 25 January. It passed quickly; I just chalked it up to my age.  (You can't run at 64 without experiencing some aches and pains and without needing liberal doses of what my friend Chuck Armstrong calls "Vitamin I"--otherwise known as "Ibuprofen."} On Wednesday, the pain started in earnest.  It was a hot, steady pain in the center of my abdomen, Just under my ribs and radiating around to my back.  I took a Vicodin and a wait-and-see attitude.  

     On Thursday, it got worse.  At 4:30 a.m. I awoke to terrible pain.  I got up and took a Vicodin and did  a little work.  Finally, by 6:00 a.m I was able to get some sleep.  I got through the day thanks to four more doses of Vicodin.  At times, I even thought I was getting better on my own.  Thanks to the Internet, I developed several theories about what could be wrong--ranging from a gall bladder attack to dietary indiscretion.  (I had made Irish soda bread and had eaten some of the raw dough.  Food poisoning also crossed my mind.)  I felt better in the late afternoon and evening, but by bedtime, the pain had come with a vengeance.  I couldn't get to sleep.  

     At 1:30 a.m. I threw in the towel.  I told my wife what was going on, and we agreed that I had better go to the emergency room.  We spent all night there, taking every medical test known to man.  The attending physician was nothing if not thorough.  We did blood work, x-rays , and an ultra-sound--all of which were inconclusive.  Finally, a Cat-Scan revealed an angry appendix.  After that, the doctor pushed on the lower-right quadrant of my abdomen.  I had no difficulty believing that it was indeed appendicitis. 

     Hence, I had surgery at 11:00 a.m. Friday.  Fortunately, the surgeon was able to do it the laparoscopic way. I have three small holes instead of a large incision.  The pain, was atypical, the surgeon told me, because my appendix was not quite in the right place.  It was “posterior,” as she put it.  It must have been all those Marine Corps sit-ups that caused that. 

     This was my first surgery, so I have nothing to compare it to.  I got out Saturday morning at about 10:30.  I was sore at first, and I didn’t have much appetite Saturday or Sunday.  Of course, I’m not supposed to run or do any other strenuous activity for four weeks.  But I feel pretty good now. 

      I have nothing but praise for the Bremerton Naval Hospital.  Everyone was great--the doctors, the nurses, and the corpsmen.  They even gave me a private room.  Heaven forfend that I should ever again need emergency surgery, but if I should, I would not hesitate to go back to USNH Bremerton.  

      I realize now that self-medicating and trying to tough it out was not the best response.  If my appendix had “perforated,” as they put it, I would still be in the hospital. 

      And that’s the way my week went last week.  It could have been worse. --EFP
P.S.  Because I am a retired Marine officer, I was able to take advantage of the military's brand of socialized medicine.  I didn't have to worry that my emergency appendectomy was going to bankrupt me.  I don't support Obama care because it does not go far enough.  Joint replacements and other forms of elective surgery are one thing, but basic health care is a human right.  We could afford to provide it if we were not fighting elective wars and building new nuclear submarines.