Change: That word does not mean what you think it means

It's funny, because you hear of these 'earmarks' for oh so critical things like $951,500 for the Oregon Solar Highway, $900,000 for fish management, $819,000 for catfish genetics research in Alabama, $1.7 million for pig odor research in Iowa and on and on and on of stupid irrelevant things added on in the stimulus. Which I could have sworn someone was so vehemently against those before words quit mattering. Oh that's right, he was. And let us not forget AIG needs more money. And the government stimulus and bailout has no real direction or plan and thus isn't making Wallstreet or consumers any more confident.

But while all the pet projects which are not urgent, vital or sensible in such a dire economic crisis are getting $7.7 billion, this is what is going on in my neck of the woods:

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA (KGO) -- One after another, prosecutors from the Contra Costa District Attorney's Office made their case to the board of supervisors that their jobs should be spared. [...]

DA Robert Kochly submitted a plan that includes laying off 33 of his 91 prosecutors, 38 percent of his staff. Kochly says he had no choice but to eliminate attorneys, based on seniority, because 92 percent of his budget goes toward salaries and benefits. Kochly also told ABC7, he's already trimmed investigators and support staff to bare bones levels in previous budget cuts. He has said that the layoffs would mean the county would no longer pursue many misdemeanor cases, including thefts, gun and drug possession, assault and drunk driving cases, unless someone were seriously injured or killed.

"Without 33 attorneys, you're losing all of the misdemeanors, but you're losing juvenile, you're losing quality prosecution at every level," said Kate Wharton, a Deputy District Attorney.

Full article

Now, another story, very relevant in combination with the above.

The Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office is likely to be one of the hardest hit county agencies and currently has a $14.7 million deficit.

The sheriff's office could be forced to layoff between 50 and 70 deputies effective April 30, according to officials.

Full article

So while an entire county, and quite a large one too, is basically getting rid of half its legal system and putting people's lives and safety in jeopardy, congress and the president are doing the same old bullshit. Nice to know this 'change' was of course, a nice ad slogan, but not an actual plan. And something tells me this isn't just going on in Contra Costa County, but in other cities and counties in California and the rest of the US as well.

This doesn't only put the entire population at risk, but it especially puts women at risk. Unless it's a felony domestic assault, the assailant will not be prosecuted. Misdemeanor assault will be tossed out the window. So unless your partner seriously injures or murders you, it won't matter. If this goes through, thousands of women will be physically harmed and absolutely nothing will be done to their abusers. Unless they are murdered or beaten half to death. Violence and physical intimidation will have a blind eye turned towards it. As if women aren't physically abused with the laws in force as they are.

The overall picture of having a DA so completely stripped down to the point where it can't even prosecute mid-level crimes is shameful. Investigators and support staff are virtually gone. If a murder or rape or kidnapping or violent attack takes place what are the overall odds of the crime getting solved if it's not cut and dry? Getting proper timely attention? Being handled with the utmost care and vigilance? This is terrifying.

I'm glad our government has its priorities straight. Even more so that no one seems to care.

Sign of the Economic Apocalypse

Remember when Geiko had some of the best commercials on television? It all started with their infamous CG Gecko with a Cockney accent (which turned into some pretentious English nightmare for some reason a few years ago) in witty, funny skits.

He was awesome and we all loved him.



Then, starting not too long ago, less and less Gecko commercials were being made and aired and were replaced with a new character in a new advertising campaign.

Some cash with 75cent plastic googly eyes from the local Joann's Fabric Store glued on top. That is it. It doesn't talk, it doesn't move, it is literally something someone made for no more than a dollar not including the actual cash used in the 'character'. Assuming it's even real. I will call him Faily.

Aside from the low tech, low budget nature of Faily, we have the overall commercials themselves. One that is shown the most, is one where a couple is having dinner in a Chinese restaurant. The woman looks over and Faily is sitting on a chair at the next table. The setting reminds me almost eerily of the cheap Chinese place down the street from here. Pink vinyl chairs, bare walls, ugly interior. She is supposed to be flirting with Faily, when the waiter comes over and tell her, "That's the money you could be saving with Geiko." A bastardized snippet of the 1980's band Rockwell's Somebody's Watching Me is played, tight shot on Faily, commercial over.

My educated guess is these commercials with Faily cost roughly $10 to make, not including whatever the actors get paid. Whereas our oldtime favorite, the character that made Geiko an advertising king, is a completely CGed character which of course requires significantly more money and time and creativity.

High cost is not a guarantee of something being good, but this new Faily advertising campaign is terrible. It's not funny, it's not creative; it's mediocre at best. Most of Geiko's ad campaigns are great, some better than others, but Faily fails. Miserably. I am not sure whether the same firm that did the Gecko and Cavemen came up with this, but whoever did should be shot. Or at least fired.

So if anything is a hint towards even some of the biggest corporations trying to pinch pennies, look no further than our dear Faily.

Falsities & Opiates

It's actually been rather recently I've gotten into the show House M.D.. Once I gave the show a chance, I was hooked. It filled an empty spot in my soul that was left when all decent dramatic television had vanished from the airways, or had been left to rot into an unrecognizable globule of what it once was (see: E.R.). But as of late, I've been growing increasingly frustrated with it. Especially the most recent episode, The Softer Side. Setting aside my growing annoyance with the never broken formula of the show, amongst some other things, there is one thing in particular that made me facepalm a little too hard.

That would be the show's dealing with House's chronic pain and his medication. I know this is a medical television show, and therefor isn't going to be very realistic (it took me a bit of time to get over the ridiculousness of the doctors doing things like blood draw, radiography and lab tests), however there comes a point where things that had been handled rather well suddenly nose dive into craziness. I was very impressed to see that even with thing dramatized, the show had portrayed House's struggle with pain and addiction rather well. Sure some things were exaggerated or somewhat unlikely (it's TV drama, it's supposed to be), but this last episode was my breaking point.

If you don't want to be spoiled for this episode, then I suggest not reading any further.

In this episode, the staff seems to notice a change in House. He seems more laid back and, well, nice. Which immediately gets their attention that something is wrong. As the show goes on, we come to Wilson who jumps straight into the conclusion that House is on heroin of all things after he has a respiratory distress episode. Let's stop here. Heroin is an opiate. Just as the main ingredient in Vicodin is an opiate derivative. As is with Oxycontin, morphine, fentanyl, Norco, and a host of others. But you get the idea. Any of those can cause the exact same symptoms and side effects.

For some inane reason Wilson starts freaking out and is entirely sure that House is on an illegal and what a doctor would know to be, dangerous drug. Typically a pain patient will work through the prescription pain meds, from the weaker up and up into the stronger ones before resorting to heroin. Vicodin is a common moderate pain reliever, but it's not that great. After awhile, you would build a tolerance to it, and probably move on to Oxycontin, and on and on. House being a doctor, has a host of knowledge and access to pain meds, yet seems to be an idiot in this respect.

As the episode goes on House is seen nodding off and even has Kutner watching him to make sure he doesn't go into respiratory failure again. We soon find out that House is in fact not on heroin, but on methadone. When Wilson finds this out, he freaks out again. Methadone apparently kills you. When Cuddy finds out, she flips her shit as well. Cuddy tells House he can't use methadone and work there, so he leaves. Of course Cuddy ends up begging him to come back and telling him she has to monitor his 'methadone treatment'. But by the end of the show, House quits the methadone.

Let us review some facts, shall we? Methadone is used in pain management all the time. It is also used in heroin addiction 'treatment', (but really what that means is you are to stop using heroin and then maintain your physical opiate addiction with methadone). This gives it some stigma as a druggie treatment medication and most people are unaware of what methadone really is. Regardless of that fact, it is no different to take than any other pain medication. Wilson and Cuddy going insane over the methadone was completely ridiculous. On top of this, we have the completely nonsensical jump from Vicodin to methadone of all things and House's inability and his doctor's to be able to know how much methadone to take without going into respiratory failure. I'm not sure where these guys went to med school, but I question it.

I think what upset me about this episode is that it finally jumped to the "obvious" conclusion that a chronic pain sufferer who has a tolerance to (not even anywhere near all) pain medication is really a drug addict who will go right to heroin no problem. That someone who lived an entirely straight life and was a productive and contributory member of society is suddenly reduced to a heroin addict and would have absolutely no qualms about dropping the legal and proper route and going straight to illegal drugs before exhausting all avenues. Chronic pain is not something people ask for. It is not something they want or ever expect to have. Being dependent on narcotic medication is something that is difficult and hard to deal with both mentally and physically. These people are not in any way the same as someone who goes out and parties and ends up with a drug habit. Or someone who turns to drugs to escape in a difficult life. Unfortunately, thanks to the exploding trend of drug addicts and short term patients who really started to like their pain meds for more than pain, using prescription medication to get high, the people who need these medications end up getting not only stigmatized, but punished by their own government and seen no differently. This is ironically the reason some turn to heroin is because thanks to the DEA, patients have a difficult time getting appropriate treatment and their doctors are too scared to lose their licenses to prescribe what is medically necessary to their own patients.
House has usually handled this subject rather well. Even with some of House's drug seeking behaviors, there is always the reminder and empathy that he is in pain. This episode struck a chord and saddened me. My hope was for this show to continue to be empathic and real when it comes to this issue. Painless was an episode that I found very moving, relatable and carefully handled. And then to jump to the failure that was The Softer Side is incredibly disappointing.