16 Years

As of Yesterday I have been paralyzed 16 years, and for the first time in 15 years I didn’t even remember the day, until someone asked me today about my wheelchair. I knew this was the week, but it did not depress me as it has most years, and I could not remember the exact date. I had to look it up on a calendar.

My life has become so much more then the wheelchair over the years, I struggled for so long trying to be an “activist” it was my way of coping, trying to make the world conform to my needs.

I went back to college after my accident to finish my Degree - on the State’s dime. While there I was “Super Handicapped Guy”. I became President of “Horizons” a club for the disabled on Campus.

The timing was great, the Americans With Disabilities Act had been signed just months after my accident, so when I enrolled at University Of Central Oklahoma, in September ’91, they were ripe for a student who was just pushy enough to get himself noticed. In December of that year, I pulled my first stunt – I invited the Head of Maintenance, and one of the School’s VP’s to spend a typical School day with me, in chairs. I told the Head Therapist at O’Donahue Rehab Center, (where I had spent 6 weeks learning how to live in a chair) what I was planning. I remember the Evil Smile that only Denise could smile, as she chose the loaner chairs for my “victims”. These had to be the most rickety wheelchairs in the whole storage room.

Denise was a leggy redhead, with the mischievous attitude stereotypically attributed to redheads. She wanted these guys to have the roughest possible time. That attitude was also necessary for her job as Head Physical therapist. She wanted them to really understand, as much as a non-disabled person can what a disabled person goes through.

Well the day came. My first class – Biology for Non-Science Majors, (that meant we weren’t required to do labs), a trek across campus that normally took 8 or 10 minutes. I was met at the door of the dorm by the my victims, along with a reporter from the University newspaper, one from the University TV station, The Edmond Sun, The Daily Oklahoman, and Channel 9 News. Quite an entourage. We had started early, had breakfast, then off to Biology.

The route required going through the University Center, entering on the 2nd floor, down an elevator and out then out through the first floor. There were two elevators, but by coincidence one was down for repair. Only one of us could fit on the elevator at a time, we had agreed that the one rule in this game was no getting out of the chair, If I couldn’t neither could they. So I went down first, sent the elevator to the 2nd floor, apparently someone had called it to a higher floor, then it was full so the next wheelchair could not get on.

It turned into a 30 minute trip, but we had planned extra time and just made it to Biology. Several students from the class recognized the VP, and had lots of questions for him. The rest of the morning was like that. After my second morning class, we took a break in the UC. One of them went to the restroom, when he came out he said, “Scott, how would you like to see yourself in the mirror?” The mirrors were very high in the restroom, and all I could see was the top of my head, there would have been no way to make him truly understand it except for my little stunt. Well to make a long story short, they lasted till lunch, at which time I let them off the hook.

The next week I was asked to join the ADA implementation Committee. Ironically, I was the only disabled person on the committee.

Well I probably would not do something like that today, but then I am older and wiser, and as I said earlier, I have become more then the wheelchair.

Mr Gore Get Off Your High Horse!

Al Gore has some nerve, criticizing the President for wiretapping terrorists. It was not very long ago he was criticizing the Administration for not doing enough to combat terrorism. Mr Gore You can’t have it both ways. Now I realize this is an Election year, and the Democrats need all the help they can get in the Midterm elections, but coming just short of calling for the impeachment of the President when he is doing what is necessary to protect this country from more terrorism, is beyond reason.

We do not yet know all the details of what the President authorized. There will be an investigation and we will find out.. We need to remember that this is a time of war, which means that it is sometimes necessary to use extreme methods to defeat the enemy. My understanding, so far, is that the wiretaps were on people getting phone calls from persons overseas who were known or suspected of being connected with Al Qaeda. This is a far cry from what Gore calls “pervasive spying” on US citizens. There are some questions as to whether he should have gotten warrants from the court. He did consult Congress, which is required in this situation.

Do not forget that the Administration that Gore was a part of obtained FBI files of those they considered political enemies. That was not during wartime, and there was no danger to national security. Ol’ Al still can’t get over the fact that he lost the 2000 election. I shutter to think what this country would now be if he had been in charge when we were hit on 9-11.

Fresh Video from BlogTelevision.net (Source)

Don't usually post video but this was just to good not to share. When it loads you need to restart it.

Global Warming... The Jury is still out

Well, I had planned to write a very different Blog today. But because of my discussion in the comments in an earlier Blog, on Global Warming, I decided to do some research on it. I am just in the beginning of this, but the major point I have seen so far is how hard it really is to obtain accurate world wide temperature averages because of the time it takes and the number of points needed to gather an accurate sampling. It gets even more difficult over time. Going back in history to find temperature trends is tough; most of the methods used have major questions.

The thermometer was invented in the early 18th Century, which is late in human history, let alone Natural History, in addition the thermometer was not widely available, even in Europe until late in the 18th Century. Therefore other methods must be used to find temperatures over the whole earth and throughout history. Tree rings is one way that this has been done. Light and dark rings form each year of a tree’s growth, the thickness of individual rings is dependant upon how fast the tree grows, which in turn is dependant on many factors, one of which is temperature. But other things affect tree growth as well, soil conditions, drought, carbon dioxide levels, so determining temperature trends by this method is by no means universally accepted even among the Global Warming Crowd.

Another thing I have discovered in my initial research is that the Kyoto Protocol (Treaty established to try and curb Global Warming) leaves out 2 of the worlds biggest contributors of greenhouse gasses, China, and India. Also the cost is so high that it could devastate the economies of most of the major countries in the world.

Now don’t get me wrong, I believe in conservation, as a Christian I believe that we should be good stewards of what God has given us. In fact my next car will most likely be a hybrid. But I also see that the jury is still out on how human activity is impacting the Environment. Much of what is publicly believed is fear mongering, and fear is never a good basis for decision making. Public policy should be made on the basis of sound science, not on the disaster de jour.

More on this later. I want to do more research.


Links:

http://www.junkscience.com/MSU_Temps/Warming_Look.htm

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blthermometer.htm