A heavy box was delivered.
Inside was another box which opened to show a nicely packed journal, vial of pills, various instructions and warnings.
It even included a lame little plastic pill counter to hang around the bottle…it fell apart when I tried to remove it from its packing housing.
So the new drug I'm about to try comes like this.
Why does it make me angry? Haven’t even started taking it yet.
I'm pissed at this expensive marketing presentation! The cost is exorbitant! And thus the pharmaceutical industry has spent all this money to encourage me while taking the drug.
Remember the “methinks he doth protest too much” phrase?
Why?
There are phone calls every other day from representatives and pharmacists to give support and answer questions. I let them go to voice mail.
I haven’t started the drug because I’m currently on antibiotics.
Will I?
Probably, since I'm paying for it.
And on top of all the junk they pushed into my home (it won’t fit in the recycle bins) I'm almost crying to have been sent a journal.
I can no longer write comfortably thanks to my essential tremors.
They didn’t know it, but when my Dr called to make sure I got the antibiotics I let him know that this disability looms large in my life these days.
Yet another invisible condition!
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People rarely win wars; governments rarely lose them. -
Arundhati Roy, author (b. 24 Nov 1961)
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More to be angry about!
"The UN Charter prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state in Article 2(4), which reads, “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.” Launching attacks, like the U.S. strike on Iran, is generally illegal. There are exceptions for self-defense against an armed attack (Article 51) or an attack authorized by the Security Council, but neither of those is in play here.
Treaties ratified by the U.S. Senate, like the UN Charter, have the status of federal laws under Article VI, Section 3 of the Constitution, which reads, “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land.” (emphasis added). Upholding them is part of a president’s duties and the oath of office he takes under the “take care” clause of the Constitution.
Of course, we all know that under the Constitution, Congress, not the president, has the power to declare war. We also know that for the past few decades, the executive branch has been assuming more of that power, adopting a “beg for forgiveness,” rather than an “ask for permission” stance. But no one has been as brazen about it as Donald Trump, who has bombed 7 different countries in just over a year in office and is at in a second time in Iran, after claiming, in June 2025, that he had “obliterated” their nuclear program. It’s not a good thing when the man with the nuclear codes is punch-drunk on the amount of power at his disposal, and it behooves us all to keep a close watch."
SOURCE: Civil Discourse by Joyce Vance
“The use of force by the United States and Israel against Iran, and the subsequent retaliation by Iran across the region, undermine international peace and security.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemns military escalation in the Middle East.
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The ego is simply a way for us to understand and attend to ourselves, at the same time as we understand and attend to the world around us.
