Workplace Vaccine Mandate

[GeorgeParker]

Muppets. Muppets everywhere.

Sometimes I'm Kermit, and sometimes I'm Animal. But I haven't figured out which one you are: Statler or Waldorf....

[frugal-one]

Previous health crisis that prompted mandatory vaccinations…. 1901 and 1922….

https://www.history.com/news/smallpo...-supreme-court

[frugal-one]

Sometimes I'm Kermit, and sometimes I'm Animal. But I haven't figured out which one you are: Statler or Waldorf....

TOP DEFINITION
Muppet
A person who is ignorant and generally has no idea about anything.

[Yppej]

I still don't get why the public schools don't set up two sets of classrooms - masked and maskless. Both teachers and students could request the one they want.

It's not like our country has no experience with segregation We could definitely figure out the logistics. One wing of the building masked, one not.

I think the real objection is that masks zealots are afraid people would vote with their feet and run to the maskfree wing. I have heard these masks zealots say if we don't force people to do things they won't.

When covid started there was a great demand for masks that could not be met, ditto disinfectant spray and hand sanitizer. When vaccines started there was a great demand and people lined up for hours to get them. Before boosters started officially people started going to get them by lying. If Ebola spread in the community there would be a great demand for hazmat suits.

People are capable of knowing their risk factors, what they need to mitigate them, and acting accordingly. Parents are capable of doing that for their children.

Here are some facts from a study of the 25 pediatric deaths from covid in a one year period:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01897-w

"About half of these deaths were in individuals with an underlying complex disability with high health-care needs, such as tube feeding or assistance with breathing."

A lot of if not all these children won't even be in school but in the hospital. Facts matter!

[Rogar]

TOP DEFINITION
Muppet
A person who is ignorant and generally has no idea about anything.

"It's not easy being green." - Kermit the Frog

[flowerseverywhere]

Yes some school boards are paid

https://ballotpedia.org/School_board...hool_districts

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.roc...dia=AMP%2bHTML

[iris lilies]

Two ancillary and probably unrelated comments-

the school district I retired from 4 years ago starting requiring “flu shots” for everyone, no exemptions allowed. I’m highly allergic to something in the flu shots, so I would not have gotten one. Definitely a part of my decision to retire when I did.

(ironically, the last year I was there, we, as a school community of 900 students preK-6th grade, decided to see if we could greatly reduce our incidents of flu, with a 2-part approach: Nobody could be at school with a fever or sniffles. Everyone washed their hands upon arrival, before lunch, and after lunch. Hardly anyone was sick all year, with anything. Staff absenteeism was less than 2%, compared to 19% each of the prior 2 years; and student absenteeism was just under 3%, and only that high because several families took an extra week at Christmas for routine holiday in Mexico. Editorial comment: There are ways to prevent the spread of disease!)

Also, what is this flap about school board members pay being withheld in Florida if they don’t follow the governor’s wishes? Why, how, are they being paid by the state to begin with? Never heard of such nonsense!

That is a good point that general hygiene practices reduce disease.

I wondered about the school board thing too, but here in St. Louis there are citzen boards that are not paid a salary BUT they get perks that cost real money. I’m not talking about the school board here but about other prestigious powerful appointed citizen boards.

[GeorgeParker]

TOP DEFINITION Muppet -- A person who is ignorant and generally has no idea about anything.

That definition totally misses the point. A "muppet" is a person who is easily manipulated because of their naivete regarding a particular topic. Most famously, Goldman Sachs referred to the people they sold worthless junk bonds to as muppets. https://archive.kpcc.org/blogs/econo...sachs-clients/

OTOH it's fun to occasionally think about which Muppet is most like you (or someone you know). As noted, I tend to be Kermit most of the time, but I sometimes let my freak flag fly and turn into Animal.

{Definition: "Let your freak flag fly" means the times when a person with unconventional manners or mode of life feels comfortable enough to be himself/herself in front of others. It's when we allow ourselves to not be embarrassed about revealing who we really are.}

[iris lilies]

Relevant Facts:

• School libraries routinely remove out-dated books and books that people have complained about.
• They owned the books and were free to dispose of them in any manner they chose.
• They didn't confiscate the books or ask anyone to donate books to be burned.
• The decision to remove those books from the school libraries was a long, detailed process.
• They removed 4700 books (most of which were duplicates of just a few titles) but they only burned 30.
• Burning those symbolic 30 and using them as fertilizer for a newly planted tree was a ritual gesture similar to rituals many people here have probably participated in. (Have you ever lit a candle as a spiritual gesture? Ever received the "body and blood" during communion service? Ever buried a beloved possession with a friend or relative?)

This URL links to a deliberately inflammatory editorial about that event: https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2021/09/...eepers-n414576 In spite of that editorial's obvious political intent, it does include the truth about what was burned, why it was burned in the way it was, and how the decision to remove those books from the school libraries was made.

Please read that editorial and make up your own mind about it.

I see nothing in this story except a well-intentioned gesture deliberately misrepresented for political purposes. I may not agree with all of their decisions about which books to withdraw or why to withdraw them, but it was their decision to make, just as deciding which books to buy and which to not buy is their decision to make.

I am divided by this symbolic burning action.

On one hand I dislike the big theatrical show of a symbolic burning by a government agency. I understand that personal actions of a burning cleanse can be deeply meaningful to some people. I just don’t like a government agency mucking around in touchy-feely arenas. I like them to stay centered in a fact-driven world.

On the other hand, I think it’s pretty smart PR to do this and it may go far for the “healing “ required by people who are so inclined to look at these actions as healing.

In the end it doesn’t hurt anyone, but I think it’s dumb.I really don’t like my tax supported institutions to look dumb.

On the the issue of which books were pulled and why, I would have to have a whole lot more detail before coming up with an opinion. Having worked in libraries for decades, I know that odds favor at least a few titles were wrongly included in the big sweep of this purge of the politically incorrect. Over-corrections happen in atmospheres like this.

[bae]

I transported an 80-year-old patient to the mainland the other day for essential life-saving surgery. Surgery went fine, both legs were saved, and they'll walk again, and likely live productively for years more.

When I went to return the patient to the island by ferry, post-op, I had reservations on the state ferry system for the journey, and a medical priority loading certificate.

I arrived well-ahead of the scheduled sailing at around noon. The boat was scheduled to leave at about 12:45pm. Well, some of the fine employees of the Washington State Ferry system had decided to stage a sick-out, on 9/10 and 9/11, to protest the vaccination requirement that the State has issued for this class of transport workers.

So, my patient, and about a dozen others, did not arrive home until noon. The NEXT BLOODY DAY. They waited, stuck at the ferry terminal, while the chaos unfolded, as boat after boat got cancelled as crews failed to show up, or walked out. For some of these patients, mine included, this was life threatening.

At the ferry landing on my island on the other end, hundreds of people were stranded overnight, with no food, water, shelter. Our local fire/EMS agency and several social services agencies had to respond to the ferry landing to provide support.

My patience has run out.