What I Did on My Summer Vacation

First, before I tell you all about my summer vacation--leaving out the crime sprees, drunken rampages and numerous felonies that I call recreation--I want to thank Chris, Laura, Julie and Mrs. N.  They were great, and spent effort and time to see that I had a great vacation!  I can't thank my friends enough!

Let me give you a quick thumbnail of my trip--I flew out of Louisville KY, and it was the roughest flight I remember!  We flew at 38K, and had to dodge thunderstorms, and even at that altitude the air was rough with updrafts caused by the heat wave.  Oh--the plane was fully booked--no empty seats.  I changed planes at Las Vegas, and the had to make an unscheduled change at Reno due to maintenance issues.  When I got to Portland and was met at the airport by my friends, they took me directly to a really, really cool restaurant for craft brewed beer and beef.  After jet lag induced sleeping in, we made a road trio to Mt. Hood and Multnomah falls.  Then we goofed around in Portland, and hit the Portland International Beer Festival.  I went to Mass at Holy Rosary Church in Portland--which was an amazing eye opener!  We also made a road trip for three days, of about 800 miles, out to Astoria, then down the coast, through the Coast range, up the Umpqua Valley into the cascades, to Crater Lake and up through the mountains, into the Willamette Valley and back to Portland.  Magnificent!  Simply Magnificent. Especially when you consider that it was two guys, a medium size dog and camping gear in a BMW M3--whch worked out very well on those mountain side roads!  Like a road trip out of a movie, without disasters and horrid things to drive the action.

I can't talk about Oregon without mentioning the scenery and climate.  It's been killingly hot here, and there I had one day where I didn't need a jacket at least part of the time.  The air was clean, fresh and invigorating.  And the scenery! You know about drive through scenery--the stuff you drive through to go to what you want to see.  Well, it would be considered exquisite here.  The wide spot scenery--you know where they put a bit of a wide spot in the road so you can stop for a quick gander?  Well, that would rate a major state park, most places.  of course the "scenery" that you are actually going to go see is so amazing that it beggars language.  Photos don't do it even the slightest justice.  I have never seen so  much beauty, and I have been on four continents, everything from tropical islands to the alps, to the great deserts, and none of it compared!

Now 10 days isn't enough time to get a thorough sense of a place, or it's people.  There is an advantage here, in that Oregon is part of America, so it's easier to see what's up than say, Andorra.  But I cannot say that I have a thorough understanding of the place and it's social and political pulse.  I can say that I got a taste of it, and it tasted good.

Oregon is a liberal state, and most people there are liberals with a big "L".  I am a conservative. A social, fiscal, constitutional and political conservative who believes in limiting Federal Government, and in States dealing with there own stuff.  So I was wondering what I would walk into.  I needent have worried.  But I must admit, that in some ways it was a shock.

Let me explain.  Here, the "progressive" or "liberal" faction is very in your face, and quite arrogant--vocal in their idea that they know what's best for everybody, and that those who disagree are either insane, ignorant or stupid.  There is a lot of in your face.  Not so much there.  Their liberalism seems grounded in a very American idea--they want to live their lives as they wish, and if you leave them that space, they will leave you yours.  That's not at all a bad thing.  They have laws there that would cause outrage, gloom, doom and ugly mutterings here.  But those laws were passed by their Legislature--the elected representatives of the people--and seem to work pretty well there.  That, my friends, is the 10th amendment at work, and as a constitutional conservative, how could I say that's wrong?  (One law that I was warned about right off the plane is their littering laws--a several thousand dollar fine, with an add on if what you throw down is burning.  Seems draconian, except the state has a major forestry industry, and forest fires are bad for that.  I saw, I think about three or four pieces of trash on the ground the whole time.  It's draconian, but it works, and it's local.) 

The public transportation system in Portland was amazing--light rail for long hauls, buses for shorter trips, and the 'burbs connected to Portland by light rail--all electric, from Hydro.  Well--the light rail is electric I should say.  The local culture is laid back,but not in the ostentatious way of some places.  People work, earn money, raise families and are relaxed about it.  The people are very friendly--more so, actually, than in the south.  And most folks are smiling.  There is a lot of reading going on as well.  The place is quirky..  You've probably seen the bumper stickers for various towns that read "Keep ----------- Weird".  Well, they started in Portland, and now the reflexively contrarian have stickers that read "Make Portland Normal", and all the cars I saw with them were driven by people who were visibly into "alternative culture".    There is also a "craft brewed beer" culture there that has almost reached cult status.  So there are signs every where--like patio table umbrellas, etc.-- for Pabst Blue Ribbon, but you see no one drinking it.  Humor is a dominant theme in their social scene.  Low key, ironic dry humor that is very entertaining.  (I have a store map of a book store we visited, on the back there's a "where's Waldo" type poster--without Waldo.)

The progressivism in Oregon isn't so much an oppositional/defiant disorder type thing, as simply the way they wish to live, and how they have ordered their state.   And it works as well as the Conservatism of Indiana,in many ways better.   The trip was an eye opener.  It showed me, in tangible, living ways, that there is more than one way to be an American, and more than one possible way for America to be.  It helped to calm some of my angst about our political and economic future, and to make me consider that reason can lead to a variety of solutions to problems.  Certainly the place isn't without blemish--it's a real place.  I noticed that they have a lot of naked girl type bars, which isn't something I approve of.  I also noticed that they didn't have the plethora of porn shops that dot my region.  And so on.

Too be honest, if it weren't for my Family,  I wouldn't have gotten back on the plane.

An Outrage

It's killing hot over much of the nation.  People are dying of heat stroke. 

One particular death outrages me.  An 18 year old boy died of heat stroke this week in Louisville.  His core temp was above 110 Degrees, and so could not be accurately measured. 

He died because of the way we have structured our health care system.  End of story. 

He was working as a laborer in the heat, when he began to exhibit signs of over heating.  After a time he became incoherent and was taken to the nearest medical facility, an urgent care facility run by Norton Health Care which runs much of the medical facilities and hospitals in this area.  It's a major player in the business of health care.  And they treat it as a business.  The laborers on the crew who took him to urgent care didn't have the cash on hand to pay up front, and the facility refused to treat him.  (I think that I should explain here that most of the "Workers Comp" here is managed by contracts that specify going to an urgent care facility first, to hold down costs.)  He lay in the back of a pick-up truck until the paramedics arrived and took him to a hospital--one not in the Norton system--he was pronounced dead about an hour later.

The main reason this guy is dead is simple--the way we have structured the Health Care System.  The 'Workers Comp" system failed.  The urgent care system failed, and the EMS took about 45 minutes to get there--they failed.  Most of all, the refusal even to see a critical patient until the cash was in hand was horrible--beyond excuse.  Norton has come out with a statement it wasn't their fault, because they never treated him!  If they had treated him, of course, he probably would have survived, but hey, time is money, and it's just some working class white boy, so who gives a rats ass?  Besides other working class white boys, that is.

I think I should also say this--the company he was working for should probably have provided training in spotting and treating heat injuries, so perhaps he wouldn't have gotten in such bad shape before seeking care.

BTW--It has been established that he was in fact hydrating.  But when it's so hot they tell you not to go outside, or to avoid strenuous activity, hydration isn't enough.  Really, the work should have been scheduled for earlier in the day, and later in the evening to miss the worst of the heat.  This boy would not have incurred a heat injury had this been done.  But most companies are not doing that, and it's not an OSHA requirement. But having said that--if Norton had even taken a look at him, he could have been saved.