My Brother Bruce

Dear Friends and Family,

Bruce has made good progress. He goes without the ventilator for periods of 8 to 10 hours a day getting only oxygen via the tracheostomy. He is able to walk good distances with minimal assistance. He is beginning to speak using an adapter on the trach tube. He's feeling less helpless since he can now make his needs, ideas and opinions known. The g-tube feedings continue but we are hoping at some point he can begin to eat by mouth. Tomorrow Bruce will be transferred to a rehab hospital in Stoughton, MA. It's southeast of Boston about 20 minutes from Milton so we will no longer have to travel into the city. We are all eager to begin this next step and expect Bruce will be home in a couple of weeks.

Lee is a remarkable woman. She is gaining confidence daily as she learns to make her way through the medical maze seeking the best care for Bruce. Annie and Tom are doing well. We had a little party at MGH last Saturday to celebrate Annie's 10th birthday. It was great for all of us especially Bruce.

John Otis and Ty were here over the last weekend. Ty was checking out Amherst and Boden Colleges so was able to visit Bruce twice. He flew back to Atlanta on Monday afternoon and J Otis stayed on until
Wednesday afternoon. It was great having them here. Doug continues to be here most every week on business so has been a frequent visitor at MGH .He and Bruce watched the Patriots lose to Indianapolis last Sunday. Pam, Callie and Julia visited last weekend to celebrate with Annie. John is here from CT every few days to see how Bruce is doing and check in on us. Bruce is looking forward to Scott's return visit in February as well as a visit next month by Connie and John.

We have been blessed with offers for all kinds of help. We receive meals every other day and soup every Wednesday. Lee's Mom and Dad have been down from NH multiple times to visit Bruce and to take Tom back to NH with them for a while. Cindy's visits to Milton to help Lee make it possible for me to go home for a couple of days at a time.

Thank you all for your many kind words, messages, cards and prayers. Your caring and support mean so much.

Love, Pat/Mom

The Dog

My bride read through the site earlier today and said I should load some pictures of my dog.
A present for Christmas 7 years ago, only now are we beginning to see some maturity.
Every year on Christmas morning we try to take this same picture.
My dog, John Henry, thinks he's a person, and will not sit still.

My bride also questioned the last Another Otis post.
She must have considered I might be some kind of pervert, nope just irritable.

Obervations

"Don't overestimate the decency of the human race."

H.L. Mencken

Professional Widow

Today is the holiday for the Pastor Martin Luther King Jr.
Saw his father once at the Tech Baptist Student Union.
Both senior and junior posessed a calm strength that earned the honor they receive.

Not the missus.
Yes it is in poor taste and I am sorry for her family that she has passed on.
I do not miss the stage presence of Coretta Scott King.

Carré Otis

Carré Otis

Occupation: Model and actress
Born: 28-Sep-1968
Birthplace: San Francisco, CA
Religion: Buddhist
Mickey Rourke's ex-wife

Maybe She's a Nut

In 1994, Ms. Otis was allegedly slapped, knocked down, and kicked by husband Mickey Rourke. Rourke was charged but Otis refused to testify against him in court.

In 1991, Ms. Otis received a gunshot wound in her shoulder during a visit with Rourke in Santa F. Supposedly the .357 Magnum fired when she dropped her purse on a table.

Father: Morrow (alcoholic, reportedly)
Mother: Carol (alcoholic, reportedly)
Attempted suicide three times
Risk Factors: Rape, Depression, Dyslexia, Cocaine, Heroin, Anorexia, Bulimia, Smoking
Films as an actress: Going Back, Exit in Red,, Wild Orchid (27-Apr-1990)

My Brother Bruce

My youngest brother is in the hospital, due to respiration distress, brought on by ALS.
Ventilator tubes prevent speach.
He remains proud, willful and thoughtful.
Determined to go home under his own power.
By using a letter table he has said:

I can hear you.

The doctor is a fn dick.

I told the doctor to leave my room.

No crying in my room.

Anna

Have made about a dozen of these for friends and family. This is for our neighbor's daughter.

Proud Father

Ty was named the AJC All Fayette-Coweta football team.
These boys work so hard for four, five and even six years (if you count middle school).
The coaches put in unbelieveable hours, we have great appreciation for their effort.
I am happy for for my son and his friends.

Complaints with the Press

For some weeks I've been composing a diatribe on weaknesses or news reporting. See the attached link where Peter Kann has saved me the trouble.

"The press is an evil for which there is no rememdy. Liberty depends upon freedom of the press and that cannot be limited without being lost." - Thomas Jefferson

The Republican's Southern Problem

Today's AJC editorial section had two entries of particular irritation.
First, Kofi Annan has the audacity to lecture Americans on "playing by the rules".
Second, Harold Myerson's democratic talking points inspired description of how the new south is a noose weighing heavily around Republican party's neck.
Within the editorial by Mr. Myerson, Rebuplicans are defined by these Southern characteristics:

• Knee-jerk miltaristic
• Anti-scientific
• Dogmatically religious
• Culturally phobic
• Sexually phobic
• Racially phobic

Mr. Harold, as he might be called in the South, may be described with these characteristics

• Knee-jerk chicken-hawk, strong belief if advocacy without fortitude of follow through
• Junk science advocate
• Agnostic, Atheist, or Secular, indicator of weakened family and moral values
• Culturally phobic, clearly lacks understanding of Southern culture
• Metro-sexual, probably unfair, sexual boundaries are changing everywhere
• Racially ignorant, segregation is a natural tendency, and prevalent in every region in one form or another.

Reference is made to a new book titled "Whistling Past Dixie: How the Democrats Can Win Without the South", this will soon be purchased and read.

It is true, there are large differences in regional perceptions of national politics. Mr. Myerson is suggesting that the Democrats won the last election because they were too much like the historical Southerner. This is incorrect, the Democrats won in 2006 because the war in Iraq and the political savy of the Democrats to hang that about the president's neck. Other factors include the failures of Senate and House to define themsleves as fiscally responsible, morally responsible, independent of presidential power.

By his own words from another editorial:

The meaning of the election was clear for all to see: The people plainly
believed that the unified, pluralistic Iraq that the Bush administration
insisted was growing stronger with each passing day actually had no future at
all.

Mr. Myerson ignores the realities that the southern region has vastly changed demographically. Florida will soon be the 3rd largest state in the union. Metropolitan areas are thrriving in Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Tampa, Miami, Nashville and Memphis. Many of us are not from here, reared in northeastern and midwestern regions. Transplants have come here by choice, lured by growing economies regional cutural differences. People are attracted to strong conservative communities.

I would suggest that as demographic shifting has taken place, upwardly mobile workers have moved south, leaving the stagnant remains. This stagnant remainder has shifted to liberal dogma rooted in northern machine political bases, unions and the welfare class. Yes, the new Southern value system may be closely aligned with those Republican, to compare those with the knee-jerk characteritics described is plain old-fashioned regional racism.