In the fight against aedes aegypti mosquitoes, vector for the dreaded Zika virus which is the latest of those scourges to beset the world funding is running out as the battle escalates.
 

This is due to the inaction of congress which recessed without bothering to address the issue beforehand.

Unfortunately, this is the nature of our government anymore. Chalk it up to the myriad failures of Obama and his ilk. He who has the audacity to declare Trump unsuitable as President of the United States when he of all people is the least suitable and qualified of all.

Today is the feast of St Nicodemus.

Nicodemus was member of the Pharisee sect known as a master and doctor in Israel long before to his conversion to Christianity and afterward.

He was referred to as a "Jewish Chief" and was likely a senator of Jerusalem.

Brought to the path of virtue by Christ himself, he became a follower and defender of Christ before the Pharisees who cast him from the Temple for his beliefs and retired to St Gamaliel for the remainder of his life.

Nicodemus is mentioned three times in the Gospel of John:

• He visits Christ to discuss His teachings (John 3:1–21).
• He reminds others in the Sanhedrin that the law requires that a person be heard before being judged (John 7:50–51).
• He provided the customary embalming spices and assisted Joseph of Arimathea in preparing the body of Christ for burial (John 19:39–42).

I'm sitting here watching Cloverfield on Hulu. It's appropriate given the terrible news of the day.

My former colleague Emmett Tolbert was killed on Friday July 29, 2016 as the result of colliding with an automobile at the intersection of Broadriver and Beatty Roads in Columbia at about 10:25 p.m.

Word is that his wife was seriously injured in the accident and they have young children to suffer these consequences.

He was riding his beloved Harley Davidson motorcycle without a helmet — but the facts regarding the collision have not been publicized and all I can really do is offer my condolences to the family as they endure this tragedy which has befallen them.

Not being particularly adventurous anymore I have been pretty much one to traverse my 4 mile one way commute and park my vehicle in my yard specifically to avoid such calamity because there is no drivers education in South Carolina as there was when I was in school and I'm afraid it has become painfully obvious.

Add to this a public safety department primarily concerned with ticketing people for seat belts and the problem becomes a reality of poor driving that actually eclipses this petty seat belt law which should be repealed.

So here we have a 43 year old who was happy with his life, family and work who will be returned to the Earth from which he came.

I'm sorry for the pain his family endures regarding the tragedy and wish them all well in the future. I hope to hear more about his wife as time progresses but they were two in love and happy with that complementary nature of their existence. All the more tragic from my perspective.

Rest in peace.

When I was in high school I was a big wrestling fan. I didn't know much about the organization behind it all; nor did I know all of the interrelationships nor the players aside from their names.

However, watching wrestling as many times as I did over at Ricky Gleaton's house and seeing the excitement of his dad Mortimo it all rubbed off on me and I followed the theatrics for a number of years at that time and afterward.

I recall a time when the wrestlers pursued membership in the actor's guild and it was about that time that perhaps "the sleeper" and other things I had been exposed to on the teevee weren't quite the reality I once envisioned.

Although I must admit that the day Jack Redd put "the sleeper" on Johnny Thomas in math class that fateful day at Wagener-Salley High School was about as "total reality" as it gets.

One of those wrestling personalities with whom I engaged more frequently was "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. This was because he was quite the mouthy persona and as scrappy as they come. His antics were an enjoyable part of my interludes between work and other endeavors and I enjoyed his forays into acting ... and his part in the cult classic "They Live" in particular.

Roddy Piper died on July 31 of last year in his sleep from cardiopulmonary embolus. He was slightly less than a year older than me.

As I reflect on who he was and what he did it is sad to note that this formidable human being with whom I spent so much time not to have ever met him personally went down quietly in the night from one of those lifestyle disease which claim so many of us anymore.

Roderick George Toombs April 17, 1954 - July 31, 2015 Professional Wrestler, Screen Actor

So the democratic convention is over and that spew of irrelevant nonsense eminating from those responsible for the decline of the United States of America has come to an end.

Lately I find myself feeling much less than inspired. I recall a time when a lept from bed ready to seize the day whereas now I simply squeak through it in an effort to log just one more in that effort to trog through life I have become.

My process for mental stimulation having long been squandered by those requirements for eating and living indoors til it has squashed my creativity to the point that although my aspects of ingenuity and imagination remain they are clouded through the drudgery of those practicalities of earning a paycheck.

Inspiration, aside from that involved in drawing successive breaths, escapes me anymore.

Jack And Diane

Little ditty about Jack and Diane
Two American kids growin' up in the heartland
Jackie gonna be a football star
Diane debutante backseat of Jackie's car

Suckin' on chili dogs outside the tastee freeze
Diane's sittin' on Jackie's lap
He's got his hand between her knees
Jackie say, hey, Diane
Let's run off behind a shady trees
Dribble off those Bobby Brooks
Let me do what I please
Say a

Oh yeah, life goes on
Long after the thrill of livin' is gone
Say a
Oh yeah, life goes on
Long after the thrill of livin' is gone
They walk on

Jackie sits back
Reflects his thoughts for the moment
Scratches his head
And does his best James Dean
Well you know, Diane
We oughta run off to the city
Diane says, baby
You ain't missin' nuth-in
Jackie, say-a

Oh yeah, life goes on
Long after the thrill of livin' is gone
Oh yeah, I say, life goes on
Long after the thrill of livin' is gone

Gonna let it rock
Let it roll
Let the Bible Belt come
And save my soul
Hold on to sixteen as long as you can
Changes come around real soon
Make us women and men

Oh yeah, life goes on
Long after the thrill of livin' is gone
Oh yeah, I say, life goes on
Long after the thrill of livin' is gone

Little ditty about Jack and Diane
Two American kids done the best they can

John Cougar Mellencamp

I had a follow up for a nasty little infection I've been running the bulk of the year because I was going to Agape Senior and they didn't treat me.

I went to see the guy and he ordered lab work but was "absent" for the day of my appointment.

My new physician is much more concerned regarding my condition than the old "concierge" quack was with his requirement for a $2500 fee on top of his medical bills to receive adequate treatment.

I would complain but the state board of medical examiners wouldn't do anything anyway.

Two medical schools and I have to get a referral from my brother for quality care.

Can you say "malpractice" ?

Boo !

I have been quite happy with a yahoo email account for a number of years.

I'm sorry to say that with the acquisition of yahoo by verizon I'll be leaving that account to whomever happens to acquire it later.

Verizon wants a more competitive edge in mobile media ... likely due to the millennials who seem to do everything online with a smartphone.
 

Regardless, verizon is the last place I'll ever want to be because they're a bunch of rude pretentious anuses.

They ruined alltel. They'll ruin yahoo.

Marissa Mayer will leave with her obscene severance package and I'll will be left to find other avenues of email — but such is life.

Won't be any monetizing of my traffic for verizon if I can help it.

Here in South Carolina we seem to have a lot of deaths due to vehicle accidents lately. Over the past weekend we had ten and I notice a distinct lack of driving skills on the road anymore.

Likely this is due to no drivers education in the schools like I had when I was a kid. This has resulted in a lot of people trying to make abrupt last minute right exits from the far left hand lanes on the interstates during rush hour.
 

I am talking about 70 miles an hour traversing six lanes to the exit without regard for anyone else on the road.

Of course, there is no public safety in view at the time and indeed, there likely won't be a highway patrol unless you're driving without a seatbelt because this is about all I've seen they're good for anymore.

Way to go.

Then there are the distracted drivers. The ones going 20 in a 50 mph zone in the LEFT lane to boot. Texting is supposed to be illegal but it's happening all over my commute home these days.

I'll bet if they weren't wearing their seatbelts more of them would be caught.

Be all of this as it may I would like to see things monitored a little better.

When I go out of my way to be safe it is disconcerting to see these idiots who are allowed driving privileges when they should be relegated to public transportation or walking due to that menace to society they are behind the wheel.

This is our legislature in action. Leadership, what leadership?

All I'm asking for is reasonble laws not some meaningless seat belt thing which is the result of a pair of bitter parents who lost a kid crying to Senator John Land who should have retired way before he did.

I attempt not to be insensitive to their loss, but now we all have to suffer as they shove the memory of their dead child up our collective asses at the hands of our elected officials who are supposed to represent US too.

When you can't effort the removal of the reckless drivers all over the place, going after seat belt violations is rather contradictory from a law enforcement effectiveness perspective.

Priorities, what priorities?

I read an interesting tidbit about a woman who was so disgruntled with conventional dating that she utilized an algorithm of her own design in conjunction with dating sites to "engineer" 150 some odd dates in four months.

Here is where my age really tells on me. I found the concept of such dating so irrelevant to my personal sphere of existence that all I could do is a sheldon cooperesque scoff of haughty derision and attempt to give it an objective pass through my thought collections.

In that sum total of relationships and who we are, the notion of dense pack dating has about as much attraction for me as two of the same poles of a magnet and though I do indeed think relationships are a worthy pursuit ... seeing how many I have efforted over the years — can I really be one to question another's decidedly empirical approach in all my scientific awareness ?

Those past times spent with various significant others has left me wanting mostly to do those things which do not involve others because of the innumerable ulterior motives I have encountered along the way.

Had just one encounter been with a true kindred spirit or someone who really wanted to know who I am ... or even had a clue when it comes to awareness of those outside the two feet surrounding their bodies it would all have been different.

As it stands, I'm happy to remain single and pursuant of those things I find important to me. However, perhaps the crux of the problem is that I'm just as selfish as all of those whom I engaged.

I spent the morning working on Mom's yard so it was in some semblence of tidiness prior to her trip to see my sister in the country.

It's a trip I'll likely not make again because I simply can't stand to see my sister's further deterioration at the hands of her own lifestyle diseases in conjunction with this "cadillac" insurance my brother in law always brags about yet my sister's guts are hanging to her knees because she can't get the abdominal repair needed for her diastasis recti due to his crappy "teamsters union" insurance he thinks is SO great.
 

Add to this her idiot penchant for smoking while on insulin and voila ... I don't expect to have her around much longer.

So in that tragedy which is the fact that you can't save a person from themself I simply must submit to the inevitable eventuality evolving much more quickly than it would in the presence of good health habits and competent health care of which she has neither. Add to this crappy health insurance and what chance does any person really have?

Excuse me while I decline to watch you kill yourself anymore, please. Having no one in your corner with good judgement or willingness to act limits your options to the point that I really don't think you have much of a chance remaining.