Leslie and I are still fighting to get back to the kids after being stranded in New Orleans after all flights were cancelled. We are safe but had a wild night trying to find a way home.
Despite the fact that the weather was mild on Sunday and Monday morning in Washington, US Airways cancelled our flights. It was very frustrating to speak to friends in Washington and hear how the weather was fine. The cancellations appeared to be decisions based on the location of equipment, but thousands of passengers could have made it home. The main problem however at US Airways was the virtual collapse of any customer assistance that continued to Monday. We had to wait literally hours on the telephone to get through and then had to wait over an hour on hold to reach anyone. US Airways then told us that we would have to buy a separate ticket to go to closer airports like Charlotte (it didn’t matter since those were cancelled as well.) I remain furious with US Airways which (despite plenty of forewarning) did not appear to set up sufficient personnel or resources to assist passengers. We literally spent 24 hours from Sunday to Monday trying to reach someone at the airline, which has a message that repeatedly cut off calls and told them to call back.
With four kids with our sitter in Virginia, we could not wait any longer so I rented a four-wheel drive jeep and set out Sunday morning from New Orleans. We made it 700 miles when we were hit last night with a blinding blizzard storm in the mountains of Virginia. Visibility dropped quickly to virtually zero and we barely got off the highway. We found a motel in a tiny town called Marion, Virginia and bunkered down.
We are going to set out again shortly to try to get to the kids. A lot of roads are cut off with debris and winds remain high in McLean at 37 miles per hour. However, there are signs of it winding down. The kids are fine and still remarkably have electricity. We are prepared however. In Alabama, we bought boxes of water and Moon Pies (which we can’t get around us in McLean). If anything goes wrong, we can survive on Moon Pies for days in the mountains!
I hope all of our regulars on the East Coast are safe and sound today.
North Korea’s crumbling health system in dire need of aid
Amnesty International
15 July 2010
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/north-koreas-crumbling-health-system-dire-need-aid-2010-07-14
Excerpt:
Amputation and other major surgeries carried out without anaesthesia are just one indication of the dire state of North Korea’s healthcare system, a new Amnesty International report has found.
The Crumbling state of health care in North Korea draws on interviews with North Koreans and health workers to paint a picture of barely-functioning hospitals void of medicines and epidemics brought on by malnutrition.
Witnesses described hospitals where hypodermic needles were not sterilized and sheets were not regularly washed.
“North Korea has failed to provide for the most basic health and survival needs of its people. This is especially true of those who are too poor to pay for medical care,” said Catherine Baber, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Asia-Pacific.
According to the World Health Organization’s last available figures, North Korea spent less on healthcare than any other country in the world – under US$1 per person per year in total.
The North Korean government still claims that its healthcare system is free for all, but many witnesses told Amnesty International that they have had to pay for all services since the 1990s, with doctors usually paid in cigarettes, alcohol or food for the most basic consults, and taking cash for tests or surgery.
The report found that many North Koreans bypass doctors altogether, going straight to the markets to buy medicine, self-medicating according to their own guesswork or the advice of market vendors. The North Korean authorities recently banned a highly addictive narcotic painkiller than many North Koreans routinely used as a cure-all.
“The government’s failure to provide basic education about using medication is especially worrying as North Korea fights a tuberculosis (TB) epidemic,” said Catherine Baber. “A growing number of patients have developed a resistance to first-line anti-TB drugs.”
Elaine, They are not the brightest of bulbs like Shanda Lear.
Bruce,
North Korea takes care of everything for its citizens? Really? Tell us more about that country and its government programs that help the poor, the sick, and the hungry.
Mike S, Thanks… at least I am disliked by the wrong kind of guys. 😉
Mike:
Were you one of the hippies dissen our troops returning form Viet Nam? Just a guess
Bruce,
No I actually tried to enlist in the Air Force but failed the physical. You on the other hand are one of those asses who never served, but likes to talk tough, just like your asshole buddies in the GOP. You have little to add to the conversation other than insult and so are merely another troll who gets his information via the propaganda of Fox News. You’re to stupid to realize how un-American you are and how divorced you are from most people in this country. O the other hand you just might be an automated trollbot and that would explain your inability to provide more than a few sentences at a time. In any event you are boring and not worth further response.
D.S. maybe it won’t improve North Korea
texas guys
Bruce, Isn’t the hateful thing to desire that people go without healthcare and necessary services.? I was talking about moving to another country if Romney and Ryan win and shred needed government services and programs. It would be a country, not North Korea, that is more charitable to its citizens than the type of country that a tea party vision of government provides for.
Bruce,
Hate is an awful thing. Rumor mills are about as bad as you can get. How do you know it will improve both countries?
SWM:
hate is an awful thing. Seeing that you want the government to take care of everything maybe you should move to North Korea. It would improve both countries.
“maybe you should move to North Korea. It would improve both countries.”
Brucie,
Seeing as you hate America and its people maybe you should move to a country where your anti-American feelings would be approved.
May the wind be at your back and the snow not on your feet….
Glad to hear all the Turley’s are safe. I fully understand the urgency felt to get to your children and would have done the same myself in a similar situation.
Have safe travels I hope you enjoyed your visit to NO One of my favorite cities
Sent from my iPad
Still windy and blustery, temps just above freezing, further up I-81 around Blacksburg (you’ll actually be passing the area through Christiansburg.) Some blowing snow, but it’s not amounting to much. Looking at rain this afternoon, which probably holds up to DC. Be careful on the roads. An awful lot of drivers don’t make adjustments in their driving habits for weather and road conditions, as you have no doubt seen.
BTW, Marion is home to SWVMHI (Southwest Virginia Mental Health Institute), the state hospital that services that region. Soooo, if things get really bad . . . just kidding.
I had to rent a car in Madison yesterday. Ran into a nice woman who is in the same situation as Mr. Turley. She rented a car to drive back to DC. The company is Enterprise which is a family owned business. The woman was pleased @ the great rate. The clerk told her the company sent out an email that folks trying to get home would get the best rates..no gouging. That made my day and while I often use Enterprise, I’ll now make it a point.
Professor, the town of Marion was always a big marker on my childhood excursions from eastern Virginia back to the grandparents in far western Virginia, is the big water tower still on the edge of town? (Marked “More Water for Marion”, which my sister always yelled out as we passed by)
“Over the last two years, Congressional Republicans have forced a 43 percent reduction in the primary FEMA grants that pay for disaster preparedness. Representatives Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor and other House Republicans have repeatedly tried to refuse FEMA’s budget requests when disasters are more expensive than predicted, or have demanded that other valuable programs be cut to pay for them. The Ryan budget, which Mr. Romney praised as “an excellent piece of work,” would result in severe cutbacks to the agency, as would the Republican-instigated sequester, which would cut disaster relief by 8.2 percent on top of earlier reductions.
Does Mr. Romney really believe that financially strapped states would do a better job than a properly functioning federal agency? Who would make decisions about where to send federal aid? Or perhaps there would be no federal aid, and every state would bear the burden of billions of dollars in damages. After Mr. Romney’s 2011 remarks recirculated on Monday, his nervous campaign announced that he does not want to abolish FEMA, though he still believes states should be in charge of emergency management. Those in Hurricane Sandy’s path are fortunate that, for now, that ideology has not replaced sound policy.” NYT editorial board
I would wait out another day, if it were my decision to make—which it is not.
Good luck. Your kids neex you alive!
Even Huffington Post took a hit:
(HuffPo).
“The kids are fine and still remarkably have electricity.”
Good news.
One has to wonder if anything has changed that would enhance government policy which causes global warming induced climate change.
Hope might be a start.